She Never Could Predict the Future
by ariadnescurse
Summary: Six years and a lifetime of change later, Brooke's happy but alone. Trust Rachel to know how to fix that little problem. Trust Lucas to know how to turn Brooke's world upside down. Now it's up to Brooke to trust herself. BRUCAS
1. One Voicemail and a Single Touch

**A/N: Hey everyone…new story, no I haven't forgotten about my other ones, just couldn't help it on this one. A little background: it's six years after graduation from high school, Brooke's in California, Lucas and Rachel are in New York (no, they're not dating) and Peyton stayed in Tree Hill. Brooke has her clothing line, Lucas has published his first book and is in the middle of promoting it, and everyone else has pretty much fallen to the wayside. This story is primarily Brucas, Peyton wont be making an appearance in it, but Naley will. Hope y'all like it, and leave me reviews if you think I should keep on with it, or turn it into a two or three chapter story and end it. Thanks everyone! Look forward to your reviews!**

The slender woman opened her front door and entered the sprawling house. Three years she'd lived here, and each day seemed to fly by. It seriously felt like just yesterday when she'd signed the papers and accepted the keys to her very own place. _Home,_ she thought.

Throwing her bag and keys onto the side table in the entryway, Brooke walked forward into the living room, passing by the answering machine and hitting play.

"You have four new messages…" _Wow, four huh? People must miss me,_ she smirked to herself. Four new messages was actually pretty small, she usually walked in to at least eight. Not that she ever really listened to the messages, she just liked knowing she had them. Some things don't change.

"Hey slut! You too good to pick up a damn phone and call me? Or have you fallen off the face of the fucking planet?? But seriously, I'm in town for a couple weeks and wanted to crash with you. Call me!" Rachel's voice echoed throughout the large space, and Brooke peeked her head out of her bedroom. _Rachel? Cool! _It had been a year or so since she'd seen her friend last; it would be nice to have some company in this big town.

"Brooke, it's mom. Your father and I are flying to Rio tomorrow, just wanted to let you know we'll be out of town for a couple months. We need a break. Everything's the same as usual, if you need anything, help yourself. Security's going to take care of the house, so you don't need to worry about that. Hope you're having a good week, we'll check in later. Love you, bye." _Another break? Geez! I don't see why they don't just MOVE to Europe or something, they spend so much time there! _Brooke had grown closer over the years to her parents, but they'd never had that true family connection. The fact that her mother was even calling was a huge step for them. _Well, have fun mommie dearest! _

"Hey Cheery, long time no talk. I got your number from Rachel, I'm in town with her, long story. She just informed me she invited us to crash at your place, and well, I…" The rest of the voicemail went unheard as Brooke stood stunned. Lucas?? Here?? With Rachel?? Staying with her?? Huh?!?

The sound of the door buzzer scared her and she jumped a good foot in the air. She came down wrong on her ankle, twisting it. "Fuck! Today is just _not _my day!" She limped to the door, the buzzer going off insistently.

"I'm coming! I'm coming! Geez, what's the emergency!?" The pissed off brunette jerked open the door, and nearly screamed in shock.

"Bout damn time! Did you not get my voicemail?" A huffy Rachel pushed her way past her friend, a sheepish looking Lucas shuffling in after her.

"Rachel? What the hell?" Brooke stood in the open doorway, shock and something as yet unnamed on her face.

"I called, or don't you check your messages? Besides, since when have I never been allowed in your place?" Rachel stood, arms crossed, a wicked grin on her face.

_Since you brought him with you, _Brooke thought. Sighing, she closed the door and limped over to the counter, easing into a barstool.

"Uhm, you okay?" Lucas noticed her limp and was instantly worried.

"Yeah, I just twisted it is all. Hey Lucas," she winced as she put her foot up on the stool next to her, and smiled shyly at the boy, correction, _man_ she hadn't seen in six long years.

"Hey there. Sorry to just drop in on you like this, but well, Rachel…" he trailed off, not really knowing what to say or do.

"I what? Oh please, like I seriously forced you here against your will. Whatever. But seriously, you need anything Brooke?" Rachel felt guilty for barging in on Brooke like they had, but she'd had enough of Lucas pacing and stressing out and panicking, and well, Brooke had just taken too damn long to call back. If they hadn't come to the house, there'd have been headlines the next morning when they found a blonde writer in a dark alleyway or something.

"Yeah, can you grab me an ice pack? This is going to swell," Brooke sighed, again, and just grimaced. She was going to have to figure something out for tomorrow, she was going to have to do a _lot_ of walking.

"Here, I'll get it," the blonde beat the red head to the freezer, rummaging through the contents til he found the ice pack. He turned the corner, slipped his ex girlfriend's shoe off her dainty foot, and gently placed the ice pack around the injured ankle. The moment he'd touched her skin he felt that familiar electric shock and it was all he could do not to tremble. After all these years, she still held him entranced.

"Thanks Luke. So you guys are in town for a couple weeks?" She'd felt the shock too, and had to remind herself to breathe. She'd held herself in check for so long, she had almost forgotten what it was like to feel again. Then again, the man standing in front of her had always had that power over her.

"Yep! I needed a break from New York, and Lucas here has been entirely too wrapped up in his book. So I dragged him along with me. You know I don't like flying alone." Rachel took the stool to the other side of Brooke's foot, shrugging off her jacket and sighing in relief. Lucas leaned on the other side of the counter, not really sure what to do with himself.

"Ha! Yeah right. You never had a problem going anywhere alone you whore. Anyways, you both are of course welcome to crash here. I've got a big shoot the next two days so I'll be working, but for the most part I'll be free. As always, you've got excellent timing."

"Well duh! I mean, we are talking about me here. I'm perfect," Rachel preened, as she sat up nice and tall. Brooke giggled and Lucas chuckled, and for a moment, things looked like they might be okay.

"You sure it's cool if I stay? I can get a hotel or something," Lucas' deep voice brought Brooke back to reality, and she looked over at him for a moment. He was squinting, that signature move that was all Lucas Scott, Brooding Boy of Tree Hill. Like she could ever forget how his eyes glinted when he did that, or how the corners of his lips would pull up slightly when he was trying hard not to show what he was feeling. God, how she'd missed him. She was going to kill Rachel when she got the chance.

"Don't sweat it Broody. Really, there's tons of space in this house. You're always welcome, any of my friends are." And she meant that, which surprised everyone, even her.

He smiled, and her heart flipped over. Rachel grinned, and Brooke smiled, the patented Brooke Davis smile, dimples and all. It was Lucas' turn for his heart to flip over.

"Listen, you guys get settled, Rachel can show you where the rooms and stuff are. I literally just got home-" she threw a look at Rachel, "and I desperately need a shower. I'll be back in a little bit." She limped down the hallway and shut the door behind her, easing over to her bed.

_Oh man, what am I going to do? _The feisty woman thought back to all that had happened in the span of six years. She'd left Tree Hill with the intention of never going back, and to this day she'd held onto that determination. Sure, she'd seen her friends, run ins while in New York for Fashion Week, visits to see her in California. But there were a select few that she'd managed to avoid. Peyton being one, Lucas the other. It wasn't that she hated either one, it was just too painful to go back down that road again.

Now Lucas was presumably getting settled in one of her spare rooms, and she was going to be around him for a whole two weeks. She groaned, and decided a long hot soak was preferable to a shower, which would require standing on her bad ankle.

She flipped on her radio, music being one of the few things she simply couldn't live without. It was a change, she knew, one that would surprise the man who had just walked back into her life. But she'd learned to enjoy the comfort of the music echoing through her house, and it was immensely more upbeat than the tv, which had turned into nothing but depressing news and dramas. She'd lived enough drama in her 24 years to fill a hundred tv shows, she didn't need to watch someone else struggle through a make believe world.

"I love this house," she said out loud, satisfaction in her voice as she sank down into her garden tub, bubbles covering the surface. Brooke had always been drawn to the beach, something that had moved with her when she left Tree Hill. While Malibu wasn't exactly the same as the quiet shores of Tree Hill, the sunset in the evenings was breathtaking. When she'd finally found the house, she had jumped at the chance to own it. By then she'd already been established as a successful designer, and had the funds to buy it out right. Sometimes, money was a very good thing. A very good thing indeed.

Absorbed in her own thoughts, Brooke lost track of time. Her bathroom door suddenly flew open and she nearly choked on the water that sloshed into her mouth as she jumped.

"Jesus Rachel! Seriously! You need to quit!" She'd finally managed to get out, after coughing to clear her throat.

"Sorry, but you've been in here for an hour! We're hungry! Besides, Lucas hasn't seen the kind of life you have here, and he needs to unwind too! So get your wrinkled ass out of the damn tub and let's go do something!!!" Rachel reached down into the tub and pushed the plug. The two had grown incredibly close over the years, and were like sisters now…well, sisters that argued all the time anyways.

"Okay! Okay! Give me ten minutes to get dried off and dressed, alright?!" Brooke heaved a huge sigh and stood up. The soak in the tub had done her ankle good, and she was able to put pressure on it.

"Hurry up! I want to eat!"

"Brooke? Rachel?" Lucas peered around the corner of the bathroom, and immediately clapped his hand over his eyes. "Oh god, I'm so sorry," he mumbled, his cheeks turning slightly red.

Rachel snickered, and Brooke laughed lightly. "It's alright Luke, really. Not like it's anything you haven't seen before," she replied, reaching for the towel that Rachel handed to her. "I'll be out in a minute, you guys figure out what kind of food you feel up to eating. It's my treat tonight," she stated, shooing them out in front of her.

"Hurry up slut!" Rachel shot at her, again. Brooke just rolled her eyes and firmly shut the door in her best friend's face.

Laughter bubbled up from Brooke's chest and soon she was laughing so hard tears were forming in her eyes. Rachel had a stunned look on her face while Lucas tried to help Brooke stay upright, finding it hard to do so himself as he laughed along with the woman leaning on him.

"Well, I never…" Rachel muttered, turning back to her friends. "Would you two quit? That was so _not_ funny," she whined.

"Oh…yeah….it was," Brooke managed to get out between gasps for air. She wiped the tears from her eyes, trying to regain her composure. Lucas was still chuckling; she could feel the vibrations through the hand she had rested on his chest. _Still as toned as the last time I'd been this close,_ and she immediately snatched her hand back, as if burned, her cheeks reddening slightly at the memories that flashed through her mind.

Rachel eyed her nervous friend, having noticed the sudden change. She made a mental note to ask her about it later.

"Shut up Luke! It's not funny!" Rachel swiped at the tall man's arm, trying hard not to get caught up in the laughter. He just kept chuckling, using the situation to keep his hand on the slender waist of the woman he'd loved for so long he'd almost forgotten what life was like before he loved her.

"You've got to be kidding, I don't know how you can't see the humor in this," he replied.

"I have to agree sugar. That was classic."

"Bah. Whatever. Come on, let's blow this joint." Rachel tried hard to feign indifference, not wanting to admit just how shocked she was. Her, Rachel Gatina, had just been turned down. It just didn't happen.

Giggling, Brooke nodded, and Lucas grabbed the jackets and purses as the two friends walked arm in arm out of the restaurant. Every male glared at him as he slipped between the gorgeous women, wrapping arms around their shoulders. They'd all gotten furtive glances and outright drooling stares while they had eaten, from both women and men. All three were drop dead sexy and they knew it. He just grinned, and the girls, realizing he was hamming it up, laughed harder and wrapped arms around his waist. He was particularly thrilled when he felt Brooke's fingers thread through one of his belt loops.

"So where to now Brooke?" Lucas opened the car door for Rachel, not so subtly hinting that she was riding in the backseat this time. She just glared and accepted the purses and jackets as she slid into the back.

"Well, it's been a while since I've gone out and partied. Believe it or not, but I've actually calmed down quite a bit," she replied, smirking at Rachel when she snickered in disbelief in the back.

"No, seriously! Besides, I've got a shit load of work tomorrow. How about the beach? We can walk the shore for a while, I know how much you miss that Rach," Brooke eagerly suggested. She'd come to love walking the shore at night, the moonlight reflecting off the waves.

Her companions nodded in agreement, and Brooke parked a short while later in front of her house. They walked inside, swapped out high heels and skirts for bare feet and jeans, and stepped out on her back porch.

"Wow Brooke, this is amazing," Lucas whispered, awed at what amounted to her backyard.

"I'll never grow tired of this, Brooke. If you ever sell this house, I'll kill you," Rachel sighed, taking peace in the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.

"Trust me, I won't ever be selling this house. It's mine, forever and always," Brooke breathed, finding her own center as she stepped out onto the sand. "Come on you guys! Let's go for a walk!"

Brooke stretched on her back porch, cooling down from her morning run. She'd needed the fresh air to clear her mind, and her ankle help up nicely. She knew she wouldn't have any problems with her shoot later. As she finished stretching her thoughts moved back to the night before. After their walk on the shore Rachel had stumbled to bed, claiming exhaustion from the flight, leaving a nervous Brooke and shy Lucas to sit awkwardly in the kitchen. Not really sure what she was supposed to say, she'd offered to get him a drink if he wanted, to which he'd declined, not wanting to get drunk. Drinking had led to way too many accidents and bad things for him, and he didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with the woman he'd just found again.

"So how'd you run into Rachel?" She had fumbled for something, anything to say to break the strained silence.

"She's actually helping me with my promotion for the book. I ran into her, oh, I guess, a little less than a year ago, and she agreed to help me market and stuff." Lucas had been genuinely surprised when Rachel had turned out to be so helpful, he'd always pegged her as a bit flighty and self-centered.

"Yeah, she's actually a really good person. I couldn't have made it through high school and the last six years if it hadn't been for her. So she dragged you out here huh?"

"I've come to realize that there's a lot about her I hadn't known. She really is a great friend. I swear, if I'd known that she was going to be crashing with you I'd have thought twice about coming out here with her though." Lucas ran a hand through his hair, realizing that had come out completely wrong.

"Oh really? Too good for me now?" Brooke cocked her eyebrow, that move that only she could pull off, and memories flooded him again. He gulped, trying hard to calm his nerves.

"That's not what I meant, sorry. For being a writer, I'm horrible at finding the right words sometimes," he admitted embarrassed.

Brooke laughed, and with that, they'd fallen to small talk and inconsequentials for a little while. Then Brooke caught herself yawning, and Lucas had told her to go to bed, she did have a big day coming up, after all.

"Hey, you're up early," a masculine voice said behind her, sleepiness making it deeper, more guttural. She shivered, trying hard not to remember what it was like waking up to that voice every day. She turned to face the man standing in the doorway, his hair messy, in nothing but a tank and sweats. The sunshine glinting off the waves set his blue eyes to sparkling, and his muscled arms and chest were evident in all their glory. Brooke took a deep breath, _get ahold of yourself woman. You're acting like you're back in high school!!_

"Yeah, I went for my morning run. You sleep okay?" She managed to talk in a passably calm voice, and was relieved when she didn't squeak. Lucas stared at the woman in front of him, chocolate brown hair tied back in a messy ponytail, a tank top and shorts showing off a lean waist and slender, incredibly long legs. He remembered what it felt like to have those same legs wrapped around his waist and for a moment considered walking up to her and pinning her against the back wall and having his way with the sexy woman.

"Uh, Luke? You okay?" Brooke waved a hand in front of his face, and he snapped out of his day dream to suddenly realize the woman he wanted more that life itself was standing dangerously close to him.

A clearing of a feminine throat behind the pair starring into each other's eyes broke the tension and they shot apart, both blushing just that tiny bit. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I break up something?" Rachel said, just a tiny hint of sarcasm and humor in her voice.

"Uh? What? No, um, I was just getting ready to take a shower and head into the office," Brooke stammered, trying hard to regain her composure. She'd been so close to Lucas, she could feel his breath on her skin, shit, she could still smell that scent that was distinctly Lucas Scott. _Damn,_ she thought.

"Listen, you two can hang out here for the day and just unwind, there's plenty of movies and food in the fridge, or you guys can wander around town. Here's a spare key to the house and keys for the truck. I've got to go into town for the shoot and work at the office for a little bit. I'll be home late, most likely," Brooke said as she slipped past Lucas, her bare shoulder grazing his chest. She bit her lip, struggling hard not to give into her body's incessant nagging.

"You think we could come by later for the shoot? I've always loved to watch you work those things. All those tall skinny bitches jumping to do your every command, it's hysterical!" Rachel said, following Brooke inside to the kitchen. Lucas, taking big, deep breaths, followed more slowly, trying hard to shake the images that kept running through his mind.

"Sure, if you want, you're more than welcome. Call Emily later and she'll give you the location. Or I can have a driver come get you guys later if that's easier?" Brooke smiled, taking shelter in the safer conversation with Rachel.

"Yeah, a driver's probably a better idea. I don't know LA that well." Rachel was certain she'd just interrupted a serious moment between the two friends, and she remembered the odd incidents the night before. She'd have to get Brooke alone soon to find out what's going on.

"Alright, the shoot's at one, so I'll have a driver come get you guys before lunch. We can eat together and then head for the lunch. That's alright with you, right Lucas?" She had finally gotten a firm hold on her feelings, and was able to turn to the hunk standing in her kitchen again.

"Yeah, I'd love to see you in action," he smirked, falling back on flirtatious joking in place of serious conversations.

"Well then it's settled. Be ready around 11:30. I've got to go take a shower and head into the office, I stink."

"Yeah, you do!" Rachel shot after her, to which Brooke just turned and sneered, before winking at Lucas and disappearing into her room.

"Ms. Davis! There's been five calls already, the models are running late and the magazine wants you on the cover! The photographer is panicking, claims he can't shoot without more models, and he wont stop calling!" As soon as Brooke opened the door into her office, her assistant, Emily, bombarded her with problems.

"Whoa! Calm down! How many models are we talking about? And you know Jacques always throws fits hours before a shoot. Just send him a bottle of wine and a note saying it'll be alright, and he'll calm down. The magazine wants me on the cover? Whatever for?" Not that Brooke hadn't been on covers before, but she normally had weeks notice ahead of time.

"They said that with the popularity of your line lately, they want you on the cover. But they want more than just you, they said they want like, a friend or something." Emily stammered, trying hard to keep up with her boss while she shucked jacket and purse. Emily nearly dropped her planner as she struggled to hold onto her boss' stuff, all without spilling the coffee she was holding. She sighed when Brooke relieved her of the coffee. You'd think after two years of doing this she'd have the routine down pat by now.

"A friend? What? That's crazy! What for?"

"I don't know, they wouldn't tell me. The editor told me to have you call him when you got in though," Emily said, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Oyi. It's going to be a long day, I can tell. Do me a favor Emily, call Rachel – you remember her right? Good. Call her and tell her that I have to cancel lunch, and then arrange to have a driver show up and pick her and my other friend up and bring them to the shoot. I'll go talk to Timothy." Brooke sighed. She'd been looking forward to lunch, but it seemed like things just weren't meant to go that way today. She had too many fires to put out, and a certain editor that she needed to talk out of a cover shoot.


	2. A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

"So this is where you've been coming when you leave town for a vacation?" Lucas and Rachel were sitting on Brooke's back porch, sipping coffee and taking in the California shoreline. The sound of the waves crashing on the sandy beach lent a soothing rhythm to their conversation.

"Yep. At least twice a year." Rachel frowned. "Except for this year," she grumbled.

"Why not?"

"Because I didn't want to leave you hanging," she answered honestly.

If you'd asked either one if they thought they'd be sitting on the deck of a house in California having this conversation, they'd have laughed their asses off, asked if you needed a trip to the doctor for a head wound, sneered at each other and walked their separate ways.

Rachel Gatina and Lucas Scott had never been friends. And when he and Brooke had split up in senior year, and she'd moved in with Rachel, any chance at what might possibly have been a friendship was firmly torched, ashes left to blow away in the wind.

Now, sitting in that same girl, no wait, woman's house, six years later, they'd found a comfortable peace and pleasant enough friendship with each other. Left to their own devices, they'd discovered that neither was what the other had thought, and it was a welcome step forward when Rachel had agreed to help Lucas promote his book.

Sure, the publishing company had their own promoters, shit so did his editors. But he'd wanted something from his past to be linked to the book that spilled all their gory, and glorious, details into the world's public eye for dissection and dissemination.

The past year had seen some serious upsets for Lucas. He'd received notice from his mother that she had sold the diner, and was retiring from active employment. Nathan and Haley had both moved to follow Nathan's basketball career, taking James, his nephew, and Dahlia, his niece with them. He'd tried hard to find time to visit, but between Nathan's fame status and his own growing popularity, a quiet visit home became less and less likely.

When Rachel had shown up in New York at one of his book signings, he'd been genuinely thrilled to see someone from home. He'd been struggling hard with the harshness that was the big city; the crazy nights and insane women had gotten to him, and he'd found himself spinning in a nasty cycle of sex and alcohol at night. After the tenth consecutive morning of waking up in a strange bed with a pounding head, Lucas knew he was in trouble.

So it was no major decision to accept Rachel's offer when she suggested she help him. When her _help _went beyond just setting up book signings and closing deals for more money – something she was extremely good at – Lucas was surprised, but grateful.

"Do you remember the night you got the phone call?" Lucas' gruff voice broke the silence, and Rachel jumped slightly. She had lost herself in the sound of the waves and the soft breeze that came off the ocean, forgetting for a moment where she was, or the fact that Lucas had been sitting there with her.

"Phone call?" Rachel came off a bit more surprised and startled than she'd wanted to, but it was what it was.

"Yeah, just after we'd started working together. That bartender called you…ringing a bell yet?" Lucas spoke softly, partly because of the embarrassment of the moment and partly out of respect for his surroundings.

"Oh! _That_ phone call. Yeah, I remember that. I also remember you swearing me to secrecy like we were in third grade." She'd gathered her thoughts now, and sounded more like the Rachel everyone was used to: smart ass and lovin' every minute of it.

"Ha! Yeah, well, at the time it seemed like the best idea. Anyways, I don't think I ever said thank you for saving my ass." He squinted in her general direction, the first time he'd looked at her since they'd sat down.

"It's all good Scott. I know you would have done the same for me. Shit, for all I know, you already have." She winked haughtily, and Lucas snickered.

"Still though. I was in pretty bad shape and you helped me turn it all around. I don't know that I'd be sitting here right now if it hadn't been for you."

"Well duh stupid! Of course you wouldn't be sitting here right now if it wasn't for me! I'm the one who has the open invite to Brooke's house, not you! Or at least you didn't use to."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," Lucas laughed back, loving Rachel all the more for her ability to read the surface of a comment and just that. With her, a word was sometimes just a word, not some dark foray into a broken heart or angry past.

Rachel grew silent for a moment. She stared out at the ocean again, watching a seagull dip into the waves for a fish, coming up empty. The sounds of laughter carried over the waves, and for a minute, Rachel thought she heard the sounds of a party from a different shore, and a different time.

"We had a pretty fucked up life, you know that? I mean, between all the shit that happened at school, and then us all splitting up, it was like a blanket unraveling. All our stories, our connections, the pattern of our lives, if you want to say it that way, just sort of, crumbled. I needed that connection as bad as you did when I found you. Honestly though, I would never have dreamed that I'd find that connection with you. I'd been looking for you in the hopes of finding Brooke." Rachel had grown somber with the turn of her thoughts, and Lucas, as always, was awed at how deep the red head really could be.

"You didn't seem that lost when you found me," he replied, respectful of her emotions and feelings.

"Ha, that's because I'm just good like that," Rachel scoffed back. "But seriously though, when I got that call I knew it was all for the best. You needed someone, I needed someone, and we found the ability to pick up the pieces and move on because of it. I'm certainly not complaining."

"Me neither. Although I wish I could have done more for you though. I owe you a lot for everything you've done for me." This was completely true, Lucas knew it, and Rachel let him keep thinking it.

"Finding Brooke for me was a good start Scott. Don't worry, I'll claim all my I.O.U.s at some point." She grinned, that snide grin that was signature Rachel Gatina, and he chuckled in response.

"I'm ready for it, whatever it is. Bring it on," he replied cockily.

The ringing of a cell phone interrupted whatever Rachel was going to say next.

"Next time Scott, next time," she shot behind her as she disappeared inside to answer the phone.

Lucas sat in his seat, the long forgotten cup of coffee still in his hands. The dark liquid had grown cold during their talk, and he considered going inside for a refill. He was loathe to leave the peace of his chair though. He'd always been drawn to water, the quietude and calm of the surface that could be shattered so quickly by something as small as a mosquito. The days he'd spent at the River Court were some of his best memories. Looking out at the volatility of the ocean though, he found this was a completely different kind of water.

At the River Court, it was a peaceful stream of water, a slight bubbling as it came in contact with rocks or logs from the bank. Here, sitting on Brooke's deck, it was white caps of water coming off of large walls of waves, a rushing noise not unlike the feel on the court when he used to rush past a defensive player to sink the next shot. It occurred to him that while it was all the same water when it came right down to it, the forms it could take were swift and always changing.

The brooding blonde could see why his brunette friend was so drawn to this place. Not just for the spectacular skies or sense of privacy, but because the ocean was a lot like Brooke Davis. One moment it's calm seas and clear skies, and the next it's morphing into a tumultuous wind and rising waves, not unlike the often instantaneous mood swings that Brooke could experience. This spot, this place, fit Brooke like a glove, and he was hugely relieved to see that she'd finally found a place that was hers. She deserved a calm port in the storms that could blow through, and he knew she'd fought hard to get to where she was now.

Thinking back on his life both with and without his Cheery, Lucas wondered how he'd ever been so stupid as to let her go. True, they'd agreed to stay friends when high school had ended, but life got in the way. He'd been with Peyton for so long, and had ceased to mention his ex's name, that the next time he'd finally raised his head from the proverbial sands Brooke had been long gone. The realization that she'd moved on without him, or in spite of him, had truly hurt. He'd never wanted to lose Brooke, not completely. Which, in retrospect, is probably why he and Peyton didn't last.

He loved Peyton, really, but not in the way he'd thought he did. It was a bitter sweet revelation when he'd begun to understand the metamorphosis he'd undergone while dating the feisty Brooke Davis. The love he had for Peyton had turned from something he'd always craved to something he was content with in the face of no better option. And it wasn't fair; not to either of them.

Lucas thought back on the day they'd broken up…

"_Luke? You listening?" Peyton waived a hand in front of his faraway face, trying to gain his attention._

"_Hmm? Oh, sorry Peyt. What were you saying?" Lucas sighed, bringing himself back to reality. The sounds of the club surrounding them filtered back into his hearing, and he brought the bottle between his hands up to his lips for another drink. He nearly spit it out when he discovered it had turned warm. Luke warm beer was nasty._

"_Where were you just now? Certainly not here with me," she tried valiantly to keep the frustration and hurt from her voice, only succeeding marginally._

"_Look, I said I was sorry. What were you saying?" He didn't want to discuss his thoughts with his girlfriend. And it occurred to him that he should have wanted to. _

"_Luke, this is crazy. How'd we get this way?"_

"_Was that really what you were saying?"  
_

"_No, but that's not the point. The point here is that we're not the same couple we were two years ago."_

"Of course we're not Peyt. We aren't the same people we were two years ago, so how can we be the same couple?"

"_Lucas, tell me honestly. Do you even still love me?"_

_Lucas was caught off guard. He hadn't thought he'd been that transparent. He fumbled for something to say, anything, and knew by the look on his girlfriend's face that it was too late._

"_See, that's what I mean. It shouldn't have been something you needed to think about. It should have been an automatic yes. And since it wasn't, that means its an automatic no."_

"_No it doesn't. That's ridiculous."_

"_Luke…"_

"_Okay so we aren't who we were back in Tree Hill. But seriously Peyton, did you think things would stay the same?"_

"_Yes! No! Shit, I don't know. I just didn't think we'd turn into….into this."_

"_And what is THIS?"_

"_Not us, that's for damn sure. I can't do this anymore Luke. I'm not even sure that I love YOU anymore."_

"_Well then there's your answer. Like you said, if its not an automatic yes, then it's an automatic no."_

"_That's not what I meant!"_

"_Ah, and therein lies our problem. It's one thing for you, and one thing for me. Never the same standard. I can't live like THAT anymore Peyton."_

"_So what does it all mean?"_

"It means we're over."

"_Just like that?"_

"_Yep."_

It hadn't been just like that, or at least not right away. He'd had to gather his stuff, move out, find his own place to live. But within the month, they'd gone their separate ways, and life had moved on. Lucas had been sure that he would have had a harder time adjusting to life alone, but he'd found a renewed passion for things he'd let slide to please the curly haired woman. Things he hadn't realized he'd let go, things he loved and were a key part of him. That's when he'd found the gumption to pick up his writing again, and things had rolled from there.

The tall man stood from his chair, stretching to relax his muscled body. Staying in shape had been one of the things he'd been more than thrilled to pick back up once he'd gotten back on his feet. Walking over to the railing, Lucas basked in the California sun, and let the sound of the ocean carry his thoughts into calmer areas.

"Hey Scott, that was Brooke. She had to cancel lunch, but says she's got a huge favor to ask of us both, so she's sending over the limo early. It should be here in about thirty. Brooke said a shower and change of clothes was in order." Rachel brought him back to reality, but it wasn't as scary as he'd thought when he opened his eyes. He was already healing inside, in such a short amount of hours. _I might have to look into buying a house out here,_ he thought to himself.

"A shower? You saying I stink?"

"I'm just passing on the boss' words, is all. I get first dibs!"

"Don't use all the hot water!" he shouted at Rachel's back as she disappeared back inside.

True to Brooke's word, the limo pulled up out front in thirty minutes to pick up a ready and waiting Rachel and Lucas. They'd put on some fashion savvy clothing; or rather, Rachel had, and then sent Lucas back to change when he'd come out wearing something she obviously didn't approve of.

An hour later and they were let out in front of an enormous high rise, easily thirty stories tall, with lighting all up and down the front that blinked in the sun. Brooke had said something about her office, but had failed to mention she owned nearly half the building as they discovered when they were ushered inside by her waiting assistant.

"Mr. Scott, Ms. Gatina, this way please. Ms. Davis is waiting, and it's a fairly urgent matter," the poor girl practically stumbled over her own two feet in a rush to get them to the elevator. She'd never been truly comfortable around the "pretty people" as she referred to them, having been horribly ostracized in her youth. But Ms. Davis was sweet and kind and a reasonable boss…she'd stuck it out for her if for no other reason than she hadn't wanted her boss to have to break in someone new.

"Are you Emily?" Lucas tried hard to be kind, but could tell the mousy woman was terrified of them both. She merely nodded in response, slid inside the elevator after them, and explained how the floors were laid out for Brooke's company.

"The shoot will take place in our studio on level four. Make up and clothes are on level five, while Ms. Davis' office is on the seventeenth level. If you need anything, my pager number is on the back of the card. I'll be running errands but can assign someone to help you if the need arises," she was rambling on as the doors opened.

Lucas was instantly stunned at all the commotion going on. People were talking and walking every which way, and for a moment Lucas wasn't certain if he'd be able to get off the elevator without avoiding a collision. Rachel however, knew how to part a crowd. She stepped forward and instantly the group of people who had been walking in her general direction veered to the left and uttered apologies as they tried to avoid her personal space.

Lucas shook his head, scrambled to catch up with his friend, and politely opened the door Rachel was headed for.

"Hey! Glad you guys could make it. I see Rachel helped you get dressed this morning," Brooke said, smiling as she hugged them both in greeting. "Thank you Emily. I'll handle it from here. Please call Sarah and Mike and ask them to be ready in thirty minutes." Emily nodded and started jotting down notes on the clipboard that should have been surgically affixed to her hand, muttering incomprehensible words as she walked back out the door Lucas held open.

"I would take offense at that statement if it wasn't true," Lucas shot back, grinning as he took a seat across from Rachel, and more importantly, next to Brooke on the leather couch. "So this is where you work, huh? Insane!"

"Yeah, but I thrive on the hubbub. You guys had no trouble getting here did you?"

"Nope, the limo showed up right on time. So what's this big favor you need?" Rachel reached for a bottle of water and smirked when Brooke scooted just that tiny bit closer to Lucas.

"Well, see, it's like this…" Brooke wasn't sure how she was going to get them to agree to this. She knew she'd have no problem with Rachel, but Lucas? Yeah they wanted him on the cover.

"There's been a change in the magazine's layout, and they're wanting to take some extra photos for the piece they're doing on my line. I tried, I swear guys, I tried really hard to talk the editor out of it. But he's adamant. And well, I need this spread for the upcoming show, I've got another contract overseas hinging on this shoot and the show going well. If I can drum up enough attention, then I'll get-"

"Hey! Hey, Cheery, you're rambling!" Lucas laughed, throwing up his hands to stave off a flustered Brooke.

"So what's this big change?" Rachel was suspicious, but she wasn't going to jump to conclusions.

"Well, Tom, the editor, wants me on the cover and in the spread. But he wanted more than _just_ Brooke Davis, owner of Clothes over Bros. He wants…well, he wants friends and stuff."

"What?!" Rachel nearly screeched, and Lucas clapped his hands over his ears while Brooke winced. "We get to be on the fucking cover?!"

"Hey, easy now!"

"I don't know Brooke, that's a stretch, don't you think?" Lucas was stunned to say the least. He'd never thought about being on the cover of a magazine before, especially not a fashion one.

"It gets worse…or better, I'm not sure. I must have spent an hour on the phone refusing to do the shoot, but he wouldn't budge. So I explained that you two were in town, and when he heard your name Luke, well he jumped at it. Already has the layout planned. Wants a photo of us two on the cover, and then a photo spread of the three of us inside. It'll end up being this HUGE piece."

"So I don't get to be on the cover?" Rachel pouted; she'd been stoked at the idea of being on the front of a magazine.

"I'm sorry, but the editor's a real asshole and he's putting pressure on me for this one. Will you guys help me out? Please?" Brooke pleaded, something she wasn't used to doing. But she really did need the shoot, and the editor had been adamant.

"I'm down, you know that. Anything to be pampered and famous!" Rachel grinned and Brooke hugged her in thanks.

"What about you?" Brooke had known he'd be the difficult one. "I'd owe you one big time for this Broody."

"This is pretty big Brooke. I've never even done anything like this before. I don't think I could pull something like that off."

"Oh, you'd be fine, trust me. Besides, the photographer's the best in the world, he's really good at working with newbies. I'll take you out for dinner afterwards…"

"Just you and me?" He'd nearly pounced on the words; he'd been dying for a chance to get Brooke alone.

She gulped, nodded, and wondered just what she'd gotten herself into.

"Deal."

Lucas and Rachel were sent downstairs to the fitting rooms for measurements. Brooke had claimed some phone calls to wrap up and tasks to finish before she'd be able to join them, but had, in reality, only wanted a few moments peace to think.

To say she'd been floored when Tom had insisted that she be on the cover, and that it be with friends would have been an understatement. She'd asked him what they would have done if she'd said she couldn't find anyone in time to do the shoot, and he just grunted noncommittally. And then when she'd mentioned Lucas? Yeah, it was all downhill from there. If she hadn't needed the spread for publicity so bad, she would have turned the whole thing down and blacklisted the magazine.

And yet, there she sat, the man she loved and her best friend downstairs in her own building getting sized and fitted for all kinds of outfits. She knew Rachel would thoroughly enjoy herself but it had to be taking a toll on Lucas.

Lucas. There was a heady thought process. Brooke hadn't really gotten a chance to think about everything that had happened since he'd shown up on her doorstep with Rachel the night before. Seeing Lucas had slammed all sorts of memories into the forefront, and it was no surprise she was struggling with the aftermath.

When Lucas had popped up in the doorway of her back porch that morning she'd nearly jumped him right then and there. She'd fantasized over his muscles and being held in those strong arms, pressed against that masculine chest so much, that being faced with the reality had almost been her undoing.

As it was, she couldn't believe how strong her feelings for her brooding ex boyfriend were after all these years. Sure, she'd long since come to grips with the fact that she'd never really gotten over the blonde haired hunk, but she'd still thought that she'd have been able to control her urges better. She had hoped that the next time she'd run into him she'd be calm, cool, and collected.

Instead, she'd felt like she was back in high school and stumbled her way through the entire initial encounter.

And then there was the shoot. In less than a month the magazine would be all over the country with a picture of the two of them on the cover. Sure, it would be as friends, but she wasn't kidding herself. She knew that it would mean so much more to the people who really knew them. And the press? Shit. They'll take off with it, start throwing accusations in the tabloids about her newest beau. Poor Lucas, he was going to get dragged through the mud.

Brooke swore she'd do the best she could to keep Lucas' name clean. She owed it to him. Who knew? Maybe she'd be able to turn the whole thing into a good press run for his book.

Either way though, Brooke had to finally admit that she was still in love, would probably always be, and that she was going to have to find a way to make it through the next several hours without giving it away.

Two hours later found Brooke near tears. Thankfully they were due to laughing her ass off while Rachel pranced around the changing room topless and Lucas argued about getting in the makeup chair.

"Brooke! Please tell them I don't wear makeup!" He was insistent, borderline temper tantrum, she was sure of it.

"I don't know Scott, a little bit of foundation would probably do you some good," Rachel snickered, grinning when Lucas shot her a go-to-hell look.

"Don't start Rachel. And why don't you put on a damn shirt? I don't enjoy watching you run around naked." He groused, finding something out of everything to complain about.

"Oh please! You love it and you know it! Besides, I'm just showing all these skinny bitches what a REAL woman looks like," she replied, twirling around the changing room again before stopping to sip on the champagne Brooke had ordered.

Brooke never did a photo shoot sober. She needed to find that side of her that was decidedly exhibitionist in order to pose for the camera, and lately only a good buzz could bring it out. Not that anyone was complaining, a bit of the bubbly did everyone good.

The giggling brunette couldn't help it. It had been so long since she'd actually looked forward to one of these things. Usually it was equivalent to pulling teeth to get her in front of the camera. But surrounded by her friends she found herself thoroughly enjoying the entire experience. When Lucas crossed his arms and pouted, she lost all control and burst out laughing. When he scowled at her she gallantly pulled herself together.

"Lucas, seriously. They aren't talking about mascara and eyeliner and turning your eyelids a horrible shade of pink. They just want to make sure your skin tone is even and that your hair is in place before they do the shoot. You want to look your best right?"

"I don't know Brooke…I don't trust those people!" As much as he loved the sound of her laughter and the way the light twinkled in her hazel eyes, Lucas was extremely uncomfortable with the idea of wearing makeup. Nathan would never let him live it down.

"Oh Luke, calm down. They aren't going to hog tie you and turn you into a clown. Just be a good boy, go sit down and let them drool over you like I know they want to. Besides, you're nearly perfect, they wont need to do much anyways." Oh crap, she hadn't meant to say all that.

"Perfect huh? You think I'm perfect?" He sidled up to her, dangerously close to her face. It was all he could do not to place his hands on her bare hips and pull her in for a searing kiss.

"Uh, I, um, I said _nearly_ perfect," she stammered. _Shit, watch your tongue Davis! No more bubbly for you!_ She hadn't wanted to admit just how hot he looked in one of her designs, or how much she looked forward to a photo shoot that would mean draping herself all over him at the behest of the photographer, or the fact that her palms were sweating at the idea of a dinner alone with the gorgeous man standing in front of her.

Lucas inched just that touch closer, pressed his hold on her hips just that touch firmer, and was on his way to kissing the lips he'd been starring at all day, when Rachel broke the tension.

"Ahem!" Rachel cleared her throat in hopes of drawing the two back to reality.

"Right. Lucas, go sit in the chair, so they can pawn all over you and then finish getting you dressed. Rachel and I will be following close behind." Brooke stepped back, ran a hand through her hair and took a huge, deep breathe. She smiled up at Lucas, nearly stopped breathing when he smiled back at her, and then shoved him playfully out the door.

Sighing, Brooke slammed down into the nearest chair and downed a glass of champagne. Rachel, who'd watched the whole scene, knew she finally had the chance to ask her best friend just what the hell was going on.

"So, you wanna tell me how long it's going to be before you jump his bones?"

Brooke nearly spit out the sip she'd just taken, and sputtered slightly as she regained her composure.

"Rachel!"

"Don't 'Rachel' me, Brooke Davis! I've seen the looks you've been throwing him, how you react when he gets too close. You're still hot for Lucas, aren't you?" Rachel sat down in the chair opposite Brooke and refilled their glasses. She'd been dying to know, but once she'd asked the question she wasn't really sure she wanted that mental image in her head right before a photo shoot.

"So what if I am?"

"You can't act all nonchalant about this one slut. You want to tell me what is going on? Should I have found us some place else to stay?"

"No, really, I'm glad you brought Lucas and I'm glad you two are staying with me. I always love having my friends over, well, you over, and Lucas is welcome anytime. It was actually easier to see him that I'd thought it would be." Brooke was surprised at how true what she was saying was. But it all felt right.

"So then what's going on?"

"I wish I knew Rachel. I wish I knew. Every time I get close to him it's like I'm on fire and I can't breathe, there's not enough air in the room. When he held me last night it was like I'd finally found the one missing piece. But I don't think he feels the same way. I mean, how could he? It's been years, Rachel, years!"

"Oh trust me, he still does. You don't spend a year around this body and not make a pass at me unless you've got someone else in your heart," Rachel smirked as she shimmied in her seat. Brooke laughed and chucked a pillow at her.

"Please, you aren't that irresistible. Besides, who says that it's me in his heart, and not, say, Peyton or someone else?" Brooke was nervous; she couldn't decide which one she hoped for more.

"That blonde bitch? Ha. Yeah right. Whatever. Trust me, he's still head over heels in love with you, and I think you're the same way. I don't see why you two don't just give in and let it happen."

"It's not that simple. But I wish it was." Brooke sighed gently, slouching down into the chair. She didn't see the slightly open door behind her, or the shadow of a tall man hiding behind it.


	3. Say Cheese!

**AN: The long awaited photo shoot is here! I have a feeling it wont be exactly what y'all hoped for, but it went along the lines of the light-heartedness I was aiming for with the story. Don't worry, this wont be the last mention of the shoot either, next chapter will have flashbacks that have MUCH more brucas action. This is more a filler chapter to set up for the next one, hope y'all enjoy!! xo Z**

The shadow behind the door backed away, not really wanting to get busted eavesdropping. He hadn't meant to overhear the conversation, but he'd forgotten his cell phone and he needed something to keep him occupied while the drooling make up idiots poked and prodded him. If it hadn't been for the fact that a dinner with Brooke was on the line, Lucas would have high tailed it out of there so fast there'd be trails of fire where his shoes had been.

_I can't, this is crazy, she doesn't, what do I do now, too much, I need air,_ Lucas' thoughts all rolled together, cohesiveness an elusive quality he'd reached for and managed to miss altogether.

Lucas made it around the corner and paused, leaning against the wall. He'd entertained the idea of confessing his feelings to the brunette who'd held his heart for so long, but he'd never dreamed that she might actually return his declaration. It was too much. _Pull it together dude. _The blonde inhaled deeply, his eyes crinkling at the corners while he squinted, deep in thought. He'd just been handed a juicy tidbit of information and he needed to process it, decide what his next move was going to be. The whole playing field had just changed, and it was the perfect time to move in and see just what his options were.

Out of the blue Rachel came cranking around the corner, the half finished bottle of bubbly in one hand, the champagne glass in the other. She clearly hadn't been expecting Lucas to be on the other side, and she very nearly missed running smack into him by jerking to a sudden stop. However, the same couldn't be said for Brooke, who'd been imbibing of the bubbly more than she'd intended.

Giggling, Brooke had followed Rachel down the hallway, failing to see that she'd come to a swift and sudden stop. Her motor skills were severely hampered, and the concept of stopping before she crashed into her friend hadn't even formed in her head as she collided into Rachel. Slamming into the tall red head's back, Brooke spilled her champagne, soaking the back of Rachel's shirt, and the two women crumpled to the floor in a huge, giggling heap.

"Oh man, that one hurt. Why'd you do that for?!" Brooke managed to spit out semi-coherently while trying to untangle her limbs from that of her laughing friend. When a hand popped into her field of vision with a silent offer of aid in the sorting process, Brooke gulped, big time. Skin on skin contact with a certain blonde haired god was one thing when she was sober. It was a completely different kettle of fish when she was three glasses into a rather spectacularly expensive bottle of champagne, with practically no food.

"Ugh! Get off me bitch!" Rachel wasn't helping matters any, shoving and pulling various arms and legs in different directions.

"Ow! Rachel, that's NOT my shoulder!"

"Hmm, you're right, much too soft," she snickered back, snatching her hand back from Brooke's chest. Both women busted out in hysterical laughter, clearly having a hard time breathing.

Lucas, who'd jumped quite possibly higher than he was tall when the women had come flying around the corner, had finally managed to calm the horses he'd swapped for a heart. When it became clear that Brooke wasn't going to accept his hand – whether due to distraction or a desire not to touch him (of which, he devoutly hoped it was the latter) – he kneeled down to eye level with the giggling women.

Of course, by this time, they'd drawn a small crowd. When someone recognized the famous Brooke Davis, and yet another noticed the hottest bachelor in America otherwise known as Lucas Scott, whispers went flying. Which did not go unnoticed by the only one of the three not repeatedly falling flat on his ass.

"Alright, ladies, as much fun as it is watching you two grope each other, we have cameras and lights waiting for us," Lucas said lightly. His words were greeted with further giggles and hysterical bouts of laughter, with more pushing and shoving and failed attempts at standing, all while not dropping the bottle or splitting a seam.

The antics finally got to him. He could feel the chuckles that he'd tried valiantly to suppress rising, and as Brooke muttered a curse about squishy women and Rachel yelped in shock when Brooke's hand slipped just this side of her inner thigh he found himself laughing as hard as his friends.

"Ah, oh boy, come on let's go," he said, finally reining in his laughter. He reached for Rachel first, knowing she was the infinitely safer choice of the two, and helped her stand with a well placed hand and a brotherly tug on her slim waist. Once Rachel was on her feet, her head cleared just enough that she got a handle on her laughter. However, that certainly didn't mean she was stable enough to help Lucas retrieve Brooke from her spot on the floor.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered under his breath, and crouched back down to survey the gorgeous woman who was currently eyeing him with something akin to fear and borderline hope. Opting for the not so friendly brotherly touch this time around Lucas slid his long-fingered hands around Brooke's tiny waist and lifted her effortlessly off the ground. The moment his fingers touched the bare skin between the bottom of her shirt and the hem of her skirt, all signs of drunken stupor simultaneously disappeared, a single moment of clarity snapping them both back into sober reality.

Brooke's hands found their way to resting on Lucas' forearms, fingertips light on the skin just barely hiding strong muscles. He had yet to remove his own hands from around her waist, and those fingers that started it all were slowly tracing tiny circles on her smooth skin. Everything else disappeared, the whispering crowd, Rachel leaning against the wall, the sound of the camera clicking down the hallway. All of it faded into the background, a muted backdrop to the emotions raging between the two ex lovers.

Brooke stood transfixed by those blue eyes she'd dreamed of for countless nights. Lucas was mesmerized by the rise and fall of her chest, the slight parting of her lips while she stood in a daze, safe in his arms.

"Brooke," he whispered, not entirely certain what he was going to say next, just knowing it had to be something, and it had to be soon. Otherwise he was going to die from the tensions bottled up inside of him.

"Brooke! Jacques is insistent that he needs more models, and make up is clamoring for Mr. Scott and Ms. Gatina, says they never…oh." One of the shoot assistants came running up to the group, completely oblivious to the scene currently taking place. However, she did successfully break the tableau, and in the process, save Lucas from potentially making an utter bumbling fool of himself.

Brooke snapped out of the dream world she'd been playing in for the last few moments, and surveyed the damage. The crowd would keep their mouths shut, she had a loyal crew surrounding her. Rachel, that cocky slut, was leaning up against the wall with that _oh reeeaally_ look on her face, and well, Lucas, he just looked lost and slightly worried.

"As always, the hero, Luke. Thank you," she said, standing on tip toe to plant a friendly kiss on his lips. Sure, her heart stopped beating at the contact, but that was her problem not his, right? "You forgot your cell phone in the room, and you and Rachel need to get fitted and final touches done. Go on, I'll meet you guys in there," Brooke piped up, and despite the fact that she had nearly needed to call 911 at the simple kiss, she risked it all to suggestively slide her hand along his hip, tug on one of his belt loops, and then drop his phone into his back pocket…and grab his ass. He jumped, she snickered, and Rachel, well…

"Way to go Brooke! Get you some!" She cheered, and both women busted up when Lucas turned a charming shade of beet red. He ducked his head and made a beeline for the foot tapping make up artist waiting in an open doorway. He didn't think he'd ever been so happy to see a woman wielding a powder brush.

Rachel and Brooke stood watching, and leaned into each other for support while the sounds of their laughter chased him all the way inside. Brooke nodded and shoved Rachel to follow the poor man, while she stepped into her personal changing room.

-

"Ah! Brooke! You look gorgeous as always!" Jacques stepped forward, arms outstretched, and kissed the air above her shoulders in greeting. God forbid either one of them ruin their own makeup, yes, no?

"Jacques, as always, it's an honor to be in your presence," she replied, squeezing his shoulders in a gentle hug. "Have you met Rachel and Lucas yet? Are you having any more trouble with the models or the fashion line?"

"I have met Lucas, and I must say, he is a handsome one! However he said something along the lines of Rachel would be a while longer, so I took the liberties of taking some test shots, see how photogenic he is," Jacques waved Brooke over to the table that was covered in print outs of Lucas with various models in various positions which all seemed to entail draping their writhing bodies over every square inch of _her_ Broody, all of which succeeded in mightily roiling her jealousy.

"And?" With as jealous as she was, Brooke figured short sentences, preferably one word – seeing as how the next shortest option would be a guttural noise, which would clearly give away just how jealous she was – sentences was her best option at that exact moment.

"Just like you have excellent taste in clothes, your friend is immaculate. He'll look quite dashing on the cover. Although I do hope you can do something to loosen him up! He's so formal! I'll need something sillier out of him for the cover if its to be a true success."

"Loosen up eh? Oooh, I think I might could think something up for ya, Jacques. Look, here comes Rachel," ostensibly not so much because she wanted to introduce Rachel to Jacques, but because Brooke sorely needed the distraction while she mulled over the various things she could do to a certain Scott brother to break some of those inhibitions.

_I'm going to need another drink for this one,_ she thinks to herself, heading off toward the bar in the back. _I knew it was a smart decision to install that thing down here._

"Brooke, you really going to let those skinny twits drape themselves all over your man?" Rachel walked up next to her shorter friend and reached for a tumbler and ice herself. Rachel was never one to pass up a drink, especially when it was free.

"Huh?! He's not MY man, Rachel. Besides, he seems to be enjoying himself," Brooke scoffed, trying oh so hard to come off nonchalant and failing miserably. Rachel smirked over the rim of her glass, snickered, and then took a big gulp of her drink.

"Sure, whatever you say bitch. You might want to have that same discussion with that heart of yours before the jealousy flaring up all over your face gives you away though. I'm just saying," she said saucily, on purpose baiting Brooke. It was oh so much fun doing that.

"Would you just look at them?! Have they no shame! I mean, seriously, I know models are supposed to be all sexy and shit, I mean fuck, that's why I have them show my clothes, but seriously!"

"Easy kitty, retract them claws. Why don't you go show them just who Brooke Davis is, and put that famous stamp all over our resident hunk, hmmm? Look, he's even got the sad puppy dog, come save me momma look on his face."

Both women had turned and were judiciously sipping on their alcoholic beverages of choice. Taking a moment to survey the scene, Brooke had to admit that Rachel was right. Lucas was looking mighty uncomfortable, repeatedly pulling girls off him. At one point he actually jumped in the air and yelped when one particularly gutsy chick grabbed his ass and rubbed up on him. Combine the classic expression on his face with the returning sense of giggles brought on from their drinks, and both women were helpless as they leaned hard on the counter, laughing.

"Oh man, this has GOT to be the best photo shoot I've _ever_ been to," Rachel gasped, dabbing at her eyes in an effort not to smudge the makeup.

"I'd have to agree with ya on that one slut. Alright, I'll go save our hero's ass, _again_." Brooke stood up, straightened her shirt, and downed the last of her drink.

"Show em who's the real ho in this city, Brookie!" Rachel cheered, so blatantly pulling for a cat fight it was ridiculous.

"Alright _ladies_ hands off my man there," she said, stepping up in the middle of the women. It was clear from her tone that she'd used the term ladies oh so sparingly. A couple girls, realizing who had just slipped into their group gulped hard and beat a hasty retreat. Some girls though just weren't so observant. Too bad for them.

"Brooke! Thank god! They won't leave me alone!" Relief oozed off Lucas in waves as he tried yet again to unsuccessfully detach his arm from the claws of one of the women pawing him.

"Really now Sarah, that's a new low for you," Brooke purred, sidling up next to the only man in a sea of women and easily slipping between him and the woman she was currently eyeing.

Of course, neither Brooke nor Lucas noticed the photographer who had followed Brooke's every move, or when he began snapping pictures ferociously as Brooke made it quite clear to all who cared to see that the famous novelist was quite spoken for. Brooke was too preoccupied with curbing her intense need to pull hair and claw eyes and leave scratch marks while poor Lucas was fighting the blush that built up the longer Brooke's slender body kept contact with his own. Rachel had to sit down, her ability to stand on her own two feet severely hampered by all the laughing she was doing.

"Brooke, oh god, I'm so sorry!" The woman snapped to, as if coming out of a lust-induced daze to stare horrified at the woman who could ruin her career with a single snap of her fingers and a choice word to the right person.

With the sudden apology all the other girls seemed to come to. The air was down right shivering with the sudden vacancy of bodies surrounding the pair, and Lucas was stunned.

"H-how, how'd you DO that?!" He was awestruck. He knew Brooke was good. Shit, he knew she was more than good. But seeing her power in full swing was inspiring. Then he realized that during the entire horrific event he'd some how allowed his hands to wrap securely around the brunette's slim waist, holding on for dear life, and that same said body was now shaking in uncontrollable laughter.

"Oh Broody!" She gasped, trying hard to contain her urge to laugh in a gigantic effort to explain just what she found so damn funny, and finally managed to get out between fits, "you should see your face! It's classic!"

Rachel sauntered over, handed Brooke a refilled glass, and winked at her friend. "Brooke's right, that was classic. I don't think I've ever seen you flustered, and you've got to admit there've been some moments dude."

"Yeah whatever," he mumbled, wishing devoutly he had a drink of his own.

"Huh? I didn't hear that," Rachel said smugly. Oh she was definitely going to take full advantage of this one, that was for sure.

"You heard me. So where's mine?" He nodded toward the drink in Brooke's hand, which was currently being brought to her lips…_Oh shit, what I wouldn't give to be the rim of that damn glass right now!!!_ He developed a rather glazed over look on his face and Rachel shoved Brooke just that tiny bit so her drink sloshed and..

"Rachel! Look, you've made me get his shirt dirty!"

"Well why don't you help him take it off so he can change?" Said with complete and utter feigned innocence.

"Why don't you?" Like _hell_ Brooke was going to take that shirt off his back. One, she couldn't risk coming in contact with that fabulous chest, she'd stop breathing for sure, and oh-ho wouldn't that make quite a headline: _Famed fashion beauty passes out while assisting nation's hottest novelist undress. _And two, like _hell_ she was going to let said fabulous chest be photographed for all America's women to drool. If there was going to be any drooling going on, it would be by Brooke, in the privacy of her own damn four walls. _Wait, I'm not supposed to think that way._

"Well he needs a new shirt, you can't deny that. Or do you want _your _man on the cover of a national magazine in one of your stained shirts? You starting a new fashion trend?"

"You bitch…" Brooke whispers, trying really hard to figure out what to do next. Jacques had said to loosen him up, but somehow she hadn't thought he meant quite THAT loose.

"Here, let me," a deep masculine voice said, the sound rumbling in his chest beneath the fingers that had found their way to resting there. At the sound Brooke saw two hands – damn those hands, she had a few choice suggestions for what those particular hands could do to her body – come into her field of vision, and oh so slowly start at the top button. As she watched, round eyed, one by one Lucas unbuttoned his shirt and she was in prime viewing position to watch his muscled chest unveil itself one small patch of skin at a time. She bit her bottom lip, hard, and clenched her fingers in the fabric of Lucas' shirt, her fingers grazing his sides eliciting a lust-filled shiver from him.

Brooke looked up, startled, and met blue eyes gone dark as the midnight sky with desire watching her while he slowly undid the last button. As his fingers gripped the two halves of his shirt and pulled it off his back he let the back of one hand graze Brooke's breast and her face flushed in instant desire. Her hazel eyes shifted in color, going from a light green to a deep, almost forest green with gold flecks like lightning bolts. The rest of the room stood stock still, watching the pair grapple for domination while the air crackled in sexual tension.

The sound of the shutter on Jacques camera clicking away snapped Brooke from that blue stare and she inhaled sharply. Which sent Lucas' thoughts scattering as the ample cleavage her shirt offered for the roving eye heaved in his direction. _Oh god, I'm going to die_ Lucas thought, wanting, no needing to reach out and touch her.

"Lucas," she breathed. His name on her lips sent him over the edge and before rational thought reasserted itself in his decidedly male driven brain, he leaned down and kissed Brooke hard. She stiffened beneath his hands in shock, and then she was melting against him, her hands snaking their way around the back of his neck, his own hands completing the circling of Brooke's waist. They were locked in a lover's embrace, and the camera caught it all.

-

"Up and at em! Come _on_ sleepy head!" The door to Brooke's room slammed open and she shot up in bed. Sunlight streamed in through the blinds leading to the beach, and Brooke cringed from the brightness.

"Rachel! What the fuck!"

"It's almost noon! I'm hungry! Lucas is hungry! Well, he will be as soon as I wake him up!"

"Rachel!"

"Oh shut up and get dressed," she snapped back gaily, chucking a pair of shorts and a tank top in her friend's face. "I'm off to go wake lover boy," she said, slipping out the door before a pillow could catch her in the back of the head.

"Lucas! Come on! Let's go!" Rachel was much harder on him, getting a really good grip on the comforter in both hands. With one practiced yank she exposed a nearly nude Lucas who pulled his legs up in an effort to shield his nakedness.

"What the hell?!"

"Time to wake up! I swear, you and Brooke sleep too much! I'm bored! I'm hungry! Let's go!" Rachel openly admired the muscled form before her, eyes raking his body hungrily. "Hmm, maybe not hungry for _food_ necessarily," she said huskily, her appreciative gaze bringing an intense blush to creep it's way into Lucas' cheeks.

"Rachel!" Brooke yelled, having made her way to the door.

"Brooke! Help!" Lucas yelled, not wanting to be alone with Rachel.

"Oh relax you two! I was just joking. Besides, he's so not my type, I like em more scuffed up than that ya slut," Rachel replied, leaving the comforter in a piled up mess at the end of the bed. She brushed past Brooke and returned to the cup of coffee she'd been sipping on.

In the thirty seconds Brooke took her eyes off Lucas and watched Rachel leave, all the embarrassment left Lucas. Honestly it hadn't been his nakedness that set him off so much as the shock of such a rude awakening.

"Morning Cheery," Lucas said, much more at ease with Rachel's absence. He stretched out, a cocky grin on his face. "See something you like, Brooke?"

It was her turn to get all flustered as she sought desperately for something, anything else to look at. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, she couldn't decide, her eyes weren't as willing to break away from the amazingly hot, luscious view.

"Hmm, always Broody. Always," she purred. Might as well drink it in while she could, right? Brooke threw him a wink and turned, tossing out over her shoulder before exiting, "It's a shame you have to hide that sexy ass, but you might want to throw some clothes on. Rachel wants to go out."

_Today is going to be an interesting day,_ Lucas thought to himself, chuckling.

"Today is going to be an interesting day," Brooke said to Rachel, unknowingly mimicking Lucas as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Oh you have NO idea Brooke, _trust_ me," Rachel replied in satisfaction, a smile suspiciously like that of a cat who just caught the canary on her lips.

"Uh oh."


	4. The Day After

**AN: Wow…I am incredibly pleased and thankful for all the amazing reviews for my last chapter, I am thrilled at how much y'all loved it. I've gotten some questions though about the ending, and after Allie was kind enough to point out where all the confusion was coming from, I can totally see how I left it open to interpretation. So…y'all are in luck. Here's a chapter to finish off that scene so that things make more sense. It wont be as long as the others, as it's intended to explain the last one, but I'll be posting an update again tomorrow most likely. Hope this helps y'all!!  
**

"Brooke, tell Rachel that I don't want to go anywhere, please??" Lucas lifted his head from where it rested on his folded arms on the counter, his eyes still sleepy and his hair a tangled mess. Rachel had stepped out to make a phone call, leaving a sleepy Brooke and Lucas alone in the kitchen. Rachel had gone around and opened all the windows, bringing in the scent of the salty sea air and the sounds of the ocean. Brooke loved living near the beach.

"Sorry Broody, but if I've got to go, then so do you," she smirked, sympathetic to his cause yet refusing to suffer alone.

"You're the one who got us drunk last night!"

"You're the one who decided to play strip tease at the photo shoot!" Not that she was complaining, but he didn't need to know that.

Lucas had the grace to blush, the events of yesterday flooding back. He hadn't been drunk at the time, well at least not on alcohol any way. Brooke was an intoxicating presence in his life, and he'd been caught up in the moment.

"Yeah well, those other girls wouldn't leave me alone, and it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"How in the world do you figure that??"

"I don't know, it just did!"

"You do realize I have no say whatsoever over what photos go into the magazine layout right? And that they were snapping pictures the whole time?"

"You mean they caught _the kiss_ on camera? Oooh perfect! I hope they put it on the cover!" Rachel clapped her hands excitedly, rejoining the conversation now that she was done with her phone call. Lucas groaned and Brooke rolled her eyes.

"Seriously though, that was one HOT kiss. You two looked like you'd been doing it for years, like no time had passed at all," Rachel couldn't help but remark, thoroughly enjoying the discomfiture her words caused. She knew they both still had the hots for each other, and had to admit that it wouldn't be a bad thing if they hooked up again.

"Rach! Shut up!" Brooke squirmed in her seat, blushing.

Aww, come on. You two were adorable! And all those girls, you should have seen the expression on their faces! Priceless!" Rachel laughed as she remembered the events after the kiss.

"Well, Jacques did say to loosen you up some Broody," Brooke said with one of her classic Brooke Davis smiles on her lips.

"Somehow I don't think he meant in quite that way though," he mumbled into his coffee mug, hiding his face in the steam. He _loved_ the kiss, was thrilled it had happened, he just wished there wasn't a distinct possibility he'd be seeing that kiss on newsstands everywhere.

"Alright you two, let's bail. Enough brooding Lucas, go get dressed. We've got shopping to do!" Rachel jumped up from her seat pulling Brooke along with her. "You've got thirty minutes!"

Rachel dragged Brooke into her room, shutting the door behind her to ensure privacy. She didn't even wait to see if Lucas went to change, she knew he'd follow instructions. She wanted the low down on how Brooke was feeling, and now was as good a time as any.

"So spill bitch. Was that all alcohol, or was there some truth in it all?" Rachel plopped down on Brooke's bed, shoving aside the pillows to stretch out.

"Well aren't you subtle?" Brooke disappeared into her bathroom, shedding clothes as she went. Rachel could hear the sound of running water as her friend washed her face.

"No time for subtlety here woman! I am a best friend in need of some serious details!"

"Well, you're shit out of luck there slut. I can't honestly explain what happened yesterday. All I know is that I saw all those women pawing _my_ man, and I wasn't okay with it. Oh god. Did I seriously just say _my_ man??"

Rachel's burst of hysterical laughter was all Brooke needed in response. She slapped her hand to her forehead and groaned.

"Oh Brookie, you're in for it now." Rachel kept snickering on the bed while Brooke got dressed for their day out.

**AN: Alright folks, this was a short chapter, more to help firm up the chapter before. I'll be posting a much longer chapter next. I'm feeling kinda funny about this whole thing, I'm considering pulling it down and just posting a legit chapter in a couple days…lemme know what y'all think should I leave it up or is it detrimental to the quality and flow of the story? Thanks! - Z**


	5. Who Said Shopping Wasn't A Sport?

**AN: Wow…this has been a painful chapter to write. I must have had a dozen dreams about how I wanted the conversation at the end to go…only, in the end, to forget what the dreams were and had to work with what I had. I hope y'all like this chapter, it wasn't my best work I don't think. I'm trying here, though, so let me know if I failed miserably or upheld the characters in an honorable means. **

**I want to thank my reviewers for their amazing support, it truly keeps me moving down the path on these things: **HarmonyLovelyXPeytonXPunknDisorderly, Brucas True Love, toddntan, flipflopgal, IamCaroline, whiters, erika x3, othfan326, apple01, OTHbrucas4ever, justlikebrooke, broodyprettygirl, B.P.Davis, grumpie2003

**Y'all have been amazing, and I love hearing from you guys! I look forward to your reviews, truly! xo Z**

"Rachel! Come on! This is insane!" Lucas was staggering under the pile of boxes and bags that kept finding their way into his arms as he trailed the two ladies around the streets of Beverly Hills. They'd been shopping for three hours already and Lucas was exhausted. He didn't even want to _think_ about how sore he'd be tomorrow from holding up so many purchases.

"Lucas, stop whining. You're the guy, you're _supposed_ to carry all our stuff," Rachel huffed back, turning to look at him with her hands on her hips. Her lips quirked in a slight smile at the sight of Lucas struggling beneath all the ritzy bags and shiny boxes. Maybe she did need to slow down.

"I may be the guy but I'm NOT the pack horse. You owe me big time for this one!"

"Aww, poor baby. I'm sure Brooke will be happy to give you a back rub when we get back home," Rachel said naughtily, and was thrilled when Brooke blushed.

"Shut _up_ Rachel!" Brooke had been having a hard time all day. Between Rachel's snide comments and the inadvertent glances from Lucas, Brooke was sure she was going to stay a permanent shade of red from all the blushing.

"I suppose we have been shopping for a while. I'm starving, anyone else?" Rachel began to look around for a restaurant to stop at, while Brooke fought for control.

"If we stop to eat, we're so unloading all these packages first Rachel. No way I'm going through lunch surrounded by frilly pink boxes with bow ties." Lucas was serious too. He was tired of carrying all the stuff. Even if a few of the items had been purchased for him.

"What, not secure in your manhood?" Rachel was the picture of innocence. Well, all except for the evil glint in her eye and the nasty smirk. They weren't so innocent.

"Rachel…"

"Okay, white flag you two, seriously! I'll call my driver, we'll unload the pile of stuff, and then grab something to eat. Honestly! You'd think I was supervising a daycare!" Brooke took shelter in the ability to defuse the situation and take the focus away from her. She was honestly just a little bit confused with herself. She'd never been this self conscious, especially when it came to boys. Lucas Scott or no Lucas Scott.

"Good, thank you! Finally a voice of sanity and reason! I could kiss you!"

"Ha! You already did!" Really, Lucas had made that one too easy for Rachel. Even Brooke found the humor in that one and busted up laughing while Lucas just glared. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. I promise I'll play nice for the rest of the day…maybe."

Lucas threw his promotional manager the nastiest glare he could come up with, and heaved a mighty sigh of relief when the black limo pulled up and the driver helped divest Lucas' arms of the boxes that had begun to take their toll.

"So much better now! Next shopping trip, you ladies are going stag," Lucas said, wincing as he rubbed his shoulders. The pain in his neck was nothing compared to the shock his heart took however when a pair of delicately boned hands slid up his shoulder blades and rested along his collar bone, gently massaging the tension away.

"Rachel did say I owed you a back rub, right?" Brooke stood behind him, mere centimeters from coming in full contact, bottom lip securely between her teeth in a heroic effort to keep from closing that tiny distance.

"That's my girl!" Rachel nearly leapt off the pavement as she cheered on her friend. While Brooke may not have wanted to admit it, Rachel knew just how strong the feelings her brunette friend harbored for the blonde idiot were. While she understood what she saw in Lucas, she certainly didn't think Lucas deserved the kind of dedication and devotion Brooke was capable of lavishing on him. He just wasn't that good. At least in her eyes anyways.

But that didn't keep her from egging what everyone else termed the perfect couple on. If Lucas brought happiness to Brooke, then who was she to stand in the way? She wanted to see Brooke happy. And if that's what Lucas could do, well, then, he better hop to. So Rachel just, _helped_ things along.

Lucas mumbled something, none of which either woman grasped, and then sighed as he relaxed under Brooke's careful hands. The feeling of her hands on his body, whether blocked by clothing or not, was heaven for Lucas.

"Alright you two. I'm still starving. Lucas got his part of the deal, I want mine now!" She may want to see her friend happy, but Rachel was still hungry. Brooke could finish the back rub later.

Snapping out of the trance that had seemed to have fallen over the two, Brooke jumped back and Lucas blushed just slightly. He cleared his throat and she shook her hands. Both turned at the same time, met each other's eyes, and just smiled. That stupid, goofy, sappy, thoroughly embarrassing to anyone else seeing it smile.

"Oh peachy. Will you two cut it out before I lose my appetite?! Seriously!" Rachel stepped forward and slipped an arm through Brooke's, effectively breaking the gaze and separating the two. Just for now though. "Come ON! I'm hungry!"

Brooke laughed and reached around Rachel to snag Lucas' other arm and bring him to her free side.

"God it's good to have you guys here! Life is so _boring_ by myself some days!" Brooke was literally skipping down the street. Well, okay, maybe not skipping, but close enough!

Another four hours of shopping and a full trunk load of boxes later, Brooke and Rachel sat ensconced in the middle of her living room floor while they went through the stuff they'd bought earlier. Lucas, having learned the hard way via two paper cuts and a smacked hand for reaching for a bag that wasn't his, had retired to the kitchen in hopes of making a decent dinner for his girls.

The ringing of his cell phone sent Lucas on a frantic search for the damn device underneath the miles and miles of pink tissue paper and odd colored bags.

"Luke! Your cell phone's ringing!"

"No shit Rachel! Your powers of observation are astounding! When you find the damn thing, I'd be thrilled if you'd share the location!"

"Here Broody," Brooke said, walking into the kitchen and tossing him the still ringing phone. "Next time, don't drop shit into my purse without telling me," she added with a wink.

"Oh! Damn, forgot I'd done that. Sorry!"

"Just answer the damn phone Luke," Rachel shouted from her spot in the other room. Brooke shrugged and went back to sorting through clothes and bags and various other sundry items.

"Hello?"

"_Luke! Man! Where are you?"_ The sound of his brother's voice carried over the sound waves, and Lucas chuckled at the concern in his voice.

"Hey man, sorry. Rachel kidnapped me and flew me off to California."

"I heard that asshole! I didn't kidnap you, you volunteered!" Rachel was still shouting from the living room. Over his chuckling he was pretty sure he heard Brooke shushing her and asked her not to yell.

"_Who was that? Rachel?"_

"Yeah, she and Brooke-"

"_BROOKE?! What the fuck?"_

"Oh, right, yeah, well, we're staying with Brooke in California." He'd forgotten how awkward the initial meeting had been. Nathan's shock was no surprise.

"_Why didn't you tell anyone you were going out of town? Haley's been after my ass to find out what's going on with you!"_

"Sorry bro! Rachel sprang the whole thing on me last minute and didn't leave me a chance to let anyone know! And it's been a whirlwind since we got here, I just sort of…well, forgot." What he really meant was he'd been soaking up the time with Brooke, and wasn't ready to share her with anyone else. Not that he thought anyone else would just up and knock on her door, but still. This was _his _time, and he'd be damned if he was going to share it.

"_Well, as long as you're alright. Hopefully that'll be enough for Haley and she'll leave the matter alone. How long you going to be gone?"_

"Not real sure. Rachel didn't really give me any details on this thing. Trust me, I was just as surprised to show up on Brooke's doorstep as you are that I'm here."

"_You seem to be handling it alright. No accusations or anything yet?"_

"Gee thanks for your support brother. Really."

"_Anytime! Listen, Haley's calling, I've got to go. Let me know when you find out how long you'll be gone, that'll be the next thing Haley wants to know. Better yet, call her! Damnit, I've got to go. Give Brooke my love!" _

The line went dead suddenly and Lucas was left holding his cell phone and a ladle. Which reminded him he had been in the process of cooking, which then reminded him that he had a sauce on the stove which needed stirring. He was just barely in time to keep it from burning.

Thirty minutes later dinner was ready and Lucas had served up the plates. When he called the women though, he was met with silence. _What the hell?_ He thought to himself as he went wandering through the expansive house in search of his friends.

Opening one door, Lucas peeked in on what must have been Brooke's home office. It was stacked with boxes and papers and newspaper clippings in one corner. He shut the door and called for them again.

Three doors down he found Rachel passed on the bed in her room, clothes and shoes strewn everywhere. She must have been more tired than he'd expected. He knew they'd both been working long hours and had seen the signs of tension and being strung too tight, but he'd not expected her to be quite as worn out. Lucas stepped quietly inside and pulled a blanket over her slight frame.

"Sleep well Rach," he whispered as he shut the door softly on his way out. "Brooke?" He called out again, not receiving a response.

The next door opened to what had to be Brooke's bedroom, which was somewhat surprising seeing as how his own room was across the hall from Rachel's, right next to Brooke's. The thought of being that close to Brooke was very calming to Lucas.

When he didn't see a sign of the gorgeous bombshell, he slipped into the room to search for her. He hadn't expected to see her in the huge walk in closet, on the floor, sniffling over a box and a stack of photo albums.

"Cheery? You okay?" He had meant for it to come out calm and quiet, but Brooke still yelped and startled herself.

"Jesus Luke! You scared me!"

"I called out for you, dinner's ready. What ya got there?" Dinner was the convenient excuse but he didn't really care. He wanted to know what had his pretty girl so sad, so he could fix it for her.

"Oh, right. I'm so sorry Luke, Rachel's asleep and I'm really not hungry. Can we eat a little later?" She dodged his question, not really wanting to explain why she was sitting on the floor of her closet taking a trip down memory lane that she really didn't need. She tried to pack up the box and stash the photo album, but Lucas was quicker.

"Sure, no worries, it'll keep. What are you looking at Brooke?" He reached for the photo album, a yellow flowery affair with bubbly fabric paint covering the front in swirly designs.

"It's nothing really…"

"No it's not," he said, almost deathly quiet. Brooke trailed off when she saw the look cross his face. She'd know that look anywhere. It was the exact same damn look she always got whenever she messed with the damn book.

"Brooke…" he flipped another page, and paused. Staring back up at him from the soft pink paper was the picture of them from the beach, the one she'd taken with her cell phone. Underneath that was another picture of them at one of the basketball games, Brooke on his back while they laughed at the camera.

She couldn't take the pain and the wonder that fought for prime territory on his face. She stood up and left the closet, left her room even. Lucas was remotely aware that she'd walked out, but he needed to see what else Brooke had kept. And what else she'd worked on after they'd broken up.

-

Lucas wandered into the living room, knowing he'd find Brooke smack in the middle of the items she'd bought. Shopping always did calm her nerves and help her distract herself. In his arms was the box she'd looked at, and another photo album he'd found at the top of her closet.

"So I see you found it," she murmured, not really needing to explain what _it_ was.

"Yeah, I did. I wasn't snooping, but it caught my eye. Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Tell you what? How would I have explained that?"

"You could have tried," he replied, settling down on the couch opposite the woman who amazed him with something new every day.

"Lucas, it's been forever since I've seen you, since we've talked. I needed closure, needed to know I'd done the right thing. What you hold in your hands is what it took for me to get there." She waved her hands in the air in his general direction, not really sure how far she wanted to carry that particular lie.

"When did you finish these?"

"I bought you something today," Brooke said instead, standing up as she fished out a blue bag with a black stripe across the top and handing it to Lucas. When Lucas made to say something she just shook her head and shoved the bag in his lap. "Open it Luke."

"Brooke, you didn't…"

"Yes, I know, I didn't have to. But I did. Open the damn bag Lucas!" She waved her hand in the air frustratingly, and sat back down on the floor.

"Okay! Okay, easy now," Lucas tried to placate his annoyed friend, and tossed the tissue paper inside the bag to the floor. When he peeked inside the bag, for a split second he nearly stopped breathing. "Holy shit Brooke," he whispered.

Inside the bag was a book, a first edition print of the one book they both knew would always hold more meaning than just a bunch of words on a stack of pages.

"I found that today when we were at the book store. I couldn't help myself," she said quietly, knowing he was having a hard time finding words.

"Brooke, this is…this is too much. I mean, I can't…"

"Yes you can. I want you to."

Lucas lifted "The Winter of Our Discontent" out of the bag and reverently flipped through the pages. He could almost feel the age and delicacy of the book through the pads of his fingers, could sense all the other fingers that had graced that same page. He was stunned at the peace the book brought him. He'd always found comfort in the pages of a favorite book; it was his release, his way of finding the courage to keep living a life he wasn't happy with. But with _this_ book, everything just fell away. All the past year's worth of frustration, anger, tension, pain, all of it. It was a treasure he would carry with him always.

"Thank you Brooke. Really." For a moment he considered adding something along the lines of you have no idea how much this means to me and then he realized that if there was anyone who would, it would be the woman who sat cross legged in front of him on the floor surrounded by all the evidence of a life that he'd not known how to share. Anyone who didn't know Brooke Davis and Lucas Scott would have laughed long and hard and claimed the whole thing was made up if you tried to explain the situation to them.

"Lucas, what are we doing?" Brooke didn't look up, couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes. She fiddled with a piece of tissue paper, tearing it to shreds in her lap as she thought about how just how badly she suddenly wished she could take those five little words back.

He stared at her, watched as her head bobbed up and down slightly as she breathed. Watched as she took out all her fears and insecurities and pain on a poor unsuspecting piece of paper.

"What?" That wasn't the brightest moment in Lucas' life, of that he was certain of.

"What are we? Are we friends? Are we ex lovers? Are we strangers trying to find common ground again?"

"Why do we have to be anything? Why can't we just be us?"

"Because I don't know what _us_ is anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that you're here. But you can't tell me you haven't felt the tension."

"So what if I have? Why does that have to mean we're doing something?"

"I can't go through another series of ups and downs like this. I can't go through being in the same room as you and not knowing what footing I've got to look forward to. If we're just friends then fine, let's be friends. If we're more, then tell me, so I can know what to do next."

"It's not fair of you to lay those responsibilities on my shoulders."

"You're more than capable of carrying them."

"Not alone I'm not. You need to share this burden."

"Burden?" That one hurt, she couldn't deny it.

"Maybe that wasn't the best word for it. But whatever it is between you and me, it's something we both have to stand up for. We aren't going to go anywhere with whatever this is, if we're not both willing to meet half way."

"Did you look inside the box?" The sudden turn in the conversation left Lucas slightly dizzy, and scrambling to catch up.

"Briefly."

"Did you find the other album?"

"You mean there's more than the three I've seen?"

"That would be a no then. Hang on a second." Brooke stood up, snagged the stool from the kitchen and disappeared back into her bedroom. Five minutes later she came out, clutching a black scrapbook to her chest like it was going to disappear if she didn't hold on for dear life.

"This one's for you," she whispered almost too softly to hear, but Lucas caught it none the less. He was attuned to the mysterious woman before him like none other. For a moment he wondered how it was Brooke was so mysterious to him after all these years. Brooke struggled for a moment with herself, wavering between handing over the prize in her arms and running out the back door to the ocean and chucking it forever into the sea.

Lucas saved her from having to make a choice, slowly tugging the album out of her clutched hands. Brooke let it go, knowing she needed to cauterize the wound Lucas' presence had opened again. One way or another, they were going to end up on solid ground after this one. It was just where that solid ground was located that sent her back to the floor in the hopes that Lucas didn't notice her knees buckling.

He sat down on the couch and watched as Brooke resumed her nervous shredding of the poor tissue paper. At the rate she was going, there wouldn't be any whole pieces left in twenty minutes. He watched as Brooke struggled with whatever inner demons the book he was holding brought out; watched as she fought to gain control; and then watched as she lifted her head, squared her shoulders, and looked him directly in the eye. It was at that moment that he realized why Brooke held a shroud of mystery around her that he'd not known how to deal with.

The Brooke he'd held onto, the woman he'd dreamed about and missed and pined over wasn't there anymore. Sure, there were vestiges of the girl from high school, Brooke hadn't changed so much. But she _had _grown up. Gone was the girl who'd pout her way into or out of any trouble, who drank carelessly and slept even more so. In her place was a woman who'd found out who she was, confident, beautiful, powerful, and in all things the true sense of a woman. He was stunned.

"I didn't hand you the book so you could stare at me Luke. Open it," she muttered, considering the likelihood of success if she tried to snatch the book back and still send it to join Davie Jones. As if reading her thoughts – which he might have just done, Brooke couldn't guarantee that they hadn't been written clear as day on her face – Lucas gulped, gathered his thoughts, and slowly opened the blank cover, stopping at the first acid-free page.

All the pages were that deep black, no hint of grey or white even remotely possible. Written in Brooke's distinctive hand, silver lettering glittered from the page.

_Lucas-_

_I can't even begin to tell you how much I'm hurting right now. I can't remember a time when I wasn't in love with you. I can't fathom life without you in it. But I sit here, now, living a life without you, and I'm forced to deal with it. It's either deal, or die. And I choose not to die. Not today._

_I'm building my love into this book. I'm going to draw out all the pain, all the tears, all the love, all the happiness, and trap them in this book. When I close the cover on the last page, I'll have moved on. I hope._

_My only sadness is that a large majority of my heart will be caged within these pages. I won't ever be whole again. And it's because of you. I should hate you for this. I should despise you to the very depths of my soul for what you've done to me. But I can't. I love you. Always will. If you ever see this, then I'm sorry. But I can't_

The glitter ended abruptly, an incomplete sentence that left Lucas hanging and a part of him dying. _Can't what??_ He wanted to know, needed to know, and was terrified to ask.

He inhaled deeply, almost choking on it, and turned the next page. And the next. And the next.

They were all blank. Nothing but blackness greeted him. No more glitter, no pictures, no mementos of their life together both as a couple and as friends. He was confused. And possibly, maybe, just a little bit, happy.

"I tried. God knows I tried. Every day, for a year straight. I finished the box first. That was easy. All the things that weren't flat went into that box. The first album, a pink frilly one, was easy. I put all our times together with our friends into that one. The parties we'd host, the people we'd corrupt, everything. That was the social side of our life. The second one didn't have anything to do with you. That one was the only closure I'll ever get on my life with Peyton, the one we had and the one we were supposed to have after we all graduated. I'll probably end up burning it or sending it off on a wave some day, but I'm not there yet." Brooke paused, having watched Lucas while he read the one page and flipped through the others. She'd known what he was going to find, and was curious to see what his reaction was. The entire thing was something akin to a car wreck…you didn't want to watch, didn't want to know, but couldn't help yourself. Now, their eyes meeting, Brooke wasn't sure if she was strong enough to carry on with it. She didn't know if she was whole enough to see it through to the end.

"I'm sorry about all that, you have to know that," he said calmly, knowing he'd never grovel enough to make up for the serious fuck ups he'd managed to pull off. But if she'd let him, he'd spend the rest of his life trying.

"I know you're sorry. But sadly, sorry doesn't fix it. The third, well, that one is the companion to the one you're holding. It's that yellow one you were looking at earlier. I found myself one day, sitting at the table, pictures spread all around me, and I just couldn't bring myself to put them on such dark, depressing, black pages. So I started the yellow one, a balance to the black one. Pictures that were too light and airy and full of love went into the yellow one. By the time I'd finished the yellow one, I accepted that it just wasn't going to happen. I had already written that page, so I couldn't change the book; it would have felt wrong to have anything else in it." Brooke stood and walked into the kitchen, needing a break, a chance to collect her thoughts while she fought for the words to say what she knew was coming next.

Lucas stood up to follow her, not wanting her to think she was alone in this. He may not be the one doing all the talking, but he was a central figure in it all. He decided, right then, that he'd never leave her to fight a battle alone. Even if they ended up just friends, he'd always be there for her.

Brooke pulled a glass from a cabinet and filled it with water. She stared out her kitchen window at the shore, watching the waves crash against the sand and pull back, slowly removing all traces of the foot prints some runner had left along the sand hours earlier. Absent-mindedly she brought the glass to her full lips and took a drink.

"I couldn't bring myself to fill the pages of that black book with anything. It felt…_wrong. _It was like I was saying all the memories we'd had were mistakes or something." She spoke softly, her voice deep with the pain of such choices and raspy with images from those very same memories flashing before her mind's eye. "So I kept it. Wondering if some day I'd ever fill the pages, if I'd ever have the strength to put something between the covers to make it what I'd hoped for…a surcease of the pain, a way to move on and leave that part of me behind. I'd managed to convince myself that you and I were done, but I couldn't bring myself to end it so definitively."

Brooke felt hands slide onto her shoulders, fingers resting warm and friendly on her collarbone. She instantly stiffened, not wanting the physical contact. Lucas didn't move, not even to tighten his grip, trying to convey through his utter stillness that he didn't expect anything. He wasn't trying to impose anything. He was trying to let her know he was there, that he was always going to be there.

Brooke allowed herself the small gift, relaxing into his hands. There was too much history between them to walk away from something so simple. No matter what, they'd always be connected. She could get married and pop out the obligatory 2.5 and still feel the connection with Lucas. It was just the way it was.

Looking back on it all, they both walked down their own memory lanes, connected through that tenuous touch of skin on skin. Brooke knew it was going to be hard, whatever is coming for them down the road and around the bend. Lucas knew he wanted nothing other than to walk down that road wit her by his side. They both knew nothing was going to be the same after this.

"Brooke, we don't have to _be _anything right now. We can just be. I get the book. I do. I get them all. I've got a couple of my own boxes that I can't walk away from either. We've finally found each other. Let's just see where it goes from here. We take it a small step at a time. I can't promise you that it wont be hard. I can't promise you that we wont come up against a monkey load of road blocks and stumble along whatever path is setting itself up for us. All I can promise is that I'll be by your side through it all. I'm not leaving. Not ever." And he meant every damn word of it, god help him.

"How can you be so sure?" She sounded so small and quiet there, facing the window and the shores outside, facing away from him. Lucas used his grasp on her thin frame to turn her around.

"Because I know us. Not the us when we were dating, or the us when we were trying to figure out what was best all the way around. I mean the us that is Lucas Scott and Brooke Davis, ruler of Tree Hill, the author and basketball player, the class President and Cheer Captain and Socialite Goddess. We are bound to each other. We survived the hell that was THHS. We can survive anything. But there is one thing I know emphatically."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep. There's no way I could have survived those years without you. There's no way I can survive another four years without you. So you're stuck with me." By the end of his little speech, he was grinning. He knew everything he said was right, knew it in the very core of his body, knew that there wasn't a shred of doubt or an ounce of falsehood there. He had every damn right to grin.

"Oh really?"

"Damn skippy," he replied. He wondered if she knew she'd been reduced to two-word sentences.

"We'll see." Still a two word sentence, conjunction or not.

"You know I'm right. Come on, let's pack up those albums and eat something. I can tell you're hungry."

"How so?" Ha, see? Still two words.

"Cause I can hear your tummy growling. Besides, I cooked dinner, and you've never been able to turn down my food." He grinned that cocky smile that made Brooke melt every damn time.

"You suck," she said, grinning back.

"Do you realize you've only managed sentences with two words so far?"

"Shut up!"


	6. Summer Dreams and California Nights

**AN: Dude! Why'nt anyone tell me the formatting for the breaks in my chapters was missing?! I'm so sorry everyone, I thought the lines I was using to separate the scenes in the chapters was there! It's my own damn fault though for not proof reading ******** I've gone back and added them, so if there was any confusion before, hopefully the dividers will help. **

**Anywho, yes! My writer's block is finally gone!! Yay! So, to all my faithful readers that have stuck through my dry spell and are still with me, I dedicate my new updates to all three stories to y'all! You guys rule!!!**

-

"Rachel? You okay?"

The fiery red head turned her head slightly at her friend's sleepy voice and smiled gently at her.

"Yeah B, I'm fine. Just couldn't sleep."

Nodding, Brooke stepped out on her deck and joined her long time friend at the table. The summer night was warm, an easy breeze carrying the salty sea air to the women sitting quietly in the wooden chairs.

"The ocean was calling my name too. Some nights I think I feel more rested from just sitting up all night watching the waves than I do actually sleeping in my own bed."

"I love this place Brooke. I can't tell you how grateful I am that you've let me just show up unannounced so many times." Rachel meant every word of it too. If it hadn't been for Brooke, the friendship they'd developed, and this house, she'd have gone to the loony bin years ago, she was sure of it.

"Hey bitch, any time and you know it. Shit, I should give you the spare key to this shack. You're the only one I'd trust it with." Brooke smiled and playfully shoved Rachel's shoulder. She smacked her back and snickered a little.

"I'm sorry for springing Lucas on you, you know that right? But I had to."

"No worries. I'll admit, for a minute there I seriously considered banning you for life, but it's all good. It's actually been really nice seeing him surprisingly enough."

The women sat quietly together, starring out at the moonlit sea. A lone seagull crested a wave and disappeared beneath the waters in search of a midnight snack. Moments later he broke the surface and shattered the trail of light that shimmered on the surface.

"How is he really, Rach? There's something going on with both of you, I can tell."

Rachel shifted in her chair, not really sure what to say. She'd expected the topic to come up at some point, but that didn't mean she was any more prepared for it. She stared out at the ocean for a while longer, gathering her thoughts.

"He's hurting Brooke, I won't lie. In a way, I think we both are. But him more than me. I've at least had the comfort of a true friend to carry me through the shit I've had to endure since we all split up. He's had no one, not really, not in the way it counts."

"I could tell something had changed. He's so grown up! But it didn't come easy did it? He grew up because it hurt too bad not to, huh?" Brooke turned toward the woman sitting pensively in her chair, tucking a leg gracefully beneath her.

"Peyton screwed him up pretty bad. And there's been some pretty intense shit happen the past year. He needs to talk to you about though on his own terms. I can't spill those secrets for him, even to you."

Brooke nodded in understanding, knowing full well how serious Rachel was about secrets. She'd had some of her own secrets come to light in some rather awkward moments herself. Secrets could hurt. Hell, they could kill.

"I'm glad you decided to bring him. I'm thrilled you came period. I've missed you ho!"

Rachel laughed lightly, appreciating the attempt Brooke was making at turning the conversation to lighter topics even if she had been the one to start the path they'd gone down.

"I've missed you too skank. So tell me, what has you up so late?" Rachel turned now in her own chair to face Brooke. They both sat in tank tops and boy shorts, hair pulled back in messy buns. It would have been a photographer's dream shot when you added in the scenery and the moon glinting off their firm, tanned skin.

"As much as I don't want to admit it, the photo shoot. I'm worried. On so many damn levels." Brooke sighed and tugged on a loose strand of hair.

"You aren't regretting it, are you?"

"No! At least, not kissing him anyways. But I am regretting the public venue. They're going to tear this apart Rach!"

"Whoa! You need to relax B. So what if they do?"

"I've worked so hard to keep myself out of the tabloids, keep my line clear of the horrible press sharks. And now, with one brash move, I may have ruined all that work, and what's worse, dragged Lucas down with me." Brooke moaned and dropped her head on her raised knee. She'd had the past day to think over all that had happened in the short time her friends had come to visit, and she wasn't honestly sure she could handle any more contemplation.

"Lucas is a big boy Brooke, he can handle whatever it is may get thrown at him. And you're a power house in the fashion world, don't try and tell me you're not. You can spin whatever bad press may come from this, if any does at all."

"It's not fair to him though! You brought him here to heal, and I go throwing him on the cover of a fashion magazine! In a racy situation no less!" She was really getting worked up over this. Rachel snorted. Brooke could get herself worked up over a stain.

"He could have said no. And do you really think he didn't enjoy himself just as much at the shoot? Or yesterday? He's smiled more and laughed more easily in the three days he's been here than the last six months in New York." Rachel was getting slightly irritated. She loved Brooke, truly, but the woman had a stubborn streak wider than the English Channel.

"I know, I know. But that doesn't mean I'm not freaking out over this. There's so much shit that could go wrong. What if he's interested in someone? Oh god, he's not is he?!" Brooke nearly leapt from her chair, but settled for staring horrified at her friend. She'd never even thought of that prospect.

"Are you serious?! What'd you do, smoke crack or something before you came out here? Brooke, get real. Like he'd ever feel something for another woman after what Peyton did to him, and how guilty he feels for letting you go." Rachel snorted again, and chuckled briefly. Really, Brooke could be an airhead sometimes. There were moments Rachel wondered if maybe she didn't have some blonde genes in her.

"Whew! Wait…why am I so relieved?" Brooke's expression turned from horrified to puzzled in two point five seconds flat. A new record for her.

"Okay, we're so not having this conversation right now. You're being an idiot. Why aren't you in bed next to your man?"

"Ha! Yeah right. Just cause we kissed doesn't mean I'm sharing my bed with him." _Well, at least not yet anyways._ Brooke gulped.

"That was so much more than _just_ a kiss and you know it! I don't know why you're fighting this so hard." Rachel shook her head and stretched her arms, briefly considering going in for a glass of water…or maybe vodka. Vodka sounded nice.

Brooke sat silently in her chair, pondering her friend's words. Why _was_ she fighting this so hard? So what if she hadn't felt like that from a kiss in years. So what if she'd subconsciously compared every man she'd slept with to being with Lucas. So what if she'd never been able to hold down a relationship for longer than a month. It didn't mean anything, right?

"Brooke? Brooke! Hey you ho!!!" Rachel snapped her fingers in front of the pensive brunette. She'd been trying to get her attention for a full minute already! And she wasn't one to be kept waiting!

"Huh? What?"

"Where do you keep the good shit? I want a drink." Rachel stood and fisted her hands onto her hips. If they were going to continue a serious conversation then she needed a serious drink. Vodka was sounding better and better.

"Oh, uhm, third cabinet to your left once you walk in the kitchen. Bring me one too, will ya?" Brooke turned slowly back to her thoughts, not really paying attention to the other woman, not even when she yelped and a guttural voice complained about being smacked.

Five minutes later a glass with vodka and ice appeared in front of her face in what was decidedly NOT her friend's hand. Tracing the hand up the arm to the shoulder and then to the face that went with the glass being waved in her face, Brooke nearly cussed.

"You want your drink or not? Rachel said you'd asked for one." Lucas stood waiting in front of her, shirtless and slightly irritated. Not at Brooke, but rather at Rachel. She'd just chewed his ass for sneaking and had argued hard for him to return to bed. When he refused to listen, he'd received another smack, this one upside his head, and had been summarily dismissed. Something about being useful if he insisted on being a dick.

Brooke blinked and shifted her gaze from his glorious chest – oh yes, the moon loved her some Lucas – to the proffered drink. Suddenly she was immensely glad for the cocktail. She was going to need another one if he planned on staying.

She nodded and reached out to take the glass, her fingers grazing the inside of his wrist on accident. He sucked in a breathe and Brooke nearly hissed at the electricity of their touch, and between the two of them the glass almost shattered to the floor. Brooke barely managed to catch it before the glass fell from between their connected hands.

"Ah, yeah, uhm, thanks Luke. Where's Rachel?" Brooke pulled long and hard on the vodka, needing the burning down her throat to distract from the burning located elsewhere in her body. All of a sudden the warm summer night turned quite unbearable.

"She's inside, apparently an attack of the munchies snuck up on her. Do you mind if I join you? She seemed rather strongly opposed to the idea." Lucas stood rooted to the spot, a clear view of Brooke's ample cleavage in the tiny tank top having made moving impossible. Hell, just being in close proximity to the sultry woman would have made moving a trying feat at best. Ever since they'd kissed, ever since they'd sat in her living room and walked that tightrope only to make it to the other end in sync with each other, he'd been drawn to Brooke.

"She did? Well, I guess we were kinda having a private discussion. But it's alright. You can sit down." She peered up at the Adonis look-a-like, rather proud of herself for making it past his chest to his face. When he shrugged his shoulders though and his abs flexed, yeah, her resolve crumbled.

"Oh, well, I don't have to, I can go…"

"No, really it's alright. Sit down. We're just talking. Honestly we were kinda talking about you anyways," Brooke admitted, shifting in her chair so she could face both chairs better.

Lucas was fascinated at how lithely she moved, how easily she swapped positions in her seat. The moonlight caressed her bare skin and he inhaled sharply. Needing a distraction, he took a long pull on his own drink and sat down in the chair opposite Rachel's.

"I guess he's joining us, huh?" Rachel emerged from the kitchen, drink in one hand, ice bucket with vodka bottle in the other, and a tray balanced the two on her arms, stacked with snackable foods.

Brooke turned at the sound of her voice and grinned widely at the sight of the bottle. She knew one drink wasn't going to do them, just like she knew Lucas was going to join them. When it came to assessing a situation, Rachel was the queen of metering her gauge in terms of alcoholic consumption. She'd apparently rated this one worthy of a full bottle. Smart girl.

"Yeah, I sort of admitted we'd been talking about him anyways," Brooke said, standing to help Rachel with the tray. Lucas cleared the table of the potted plants, and took the ice bucket when it was shoved his direction.

"Oh way to go bitch, give the guy an even bigger ego complex why doncha?"

Brooke giggled and Lucas grinned. Rachel just snorted. She seemed to be doing that a lot tonight.

"So, what were you two women talking about? And how did I figure into it?" Lucas sat back, munching on a carrot stick.

"We were just talking about that _phenomenal_ kiss you two shared a couple days ago, and why it is you two aren't in the sack yet," Rachel said smugly. If he was going to join them, and if Brooke was going to be okay with it, then they both were going to suffer.

"Rachel!" Brooke writhed in her chair, thoroughly embarrassed. Lucas just sat in his chair munching on his carrot, shock having rendered him incapable of ceasing his actions. Munching on a carrot was safer than doing nothing, right?

"What?! You're the one who told him we were talking about him!" Rachel feigned innocence, deriving intense satisfaction from the horrified expression on her friend's face. Ha! That should teach her to invite a man into their girl talk when she'd made it blatantly obvious he wasn't welcome.

Brooke scoffed and took another long sip of her drink. Yeah, she was most definitely going to need another one.

"So it was phenomenal huh?" Lucas, who'd taken the precious seconds to gather his wits and recover from the whole thing, latched onto the one thing that really mattered to him.

Rachel smirked proudly and Brooke nearly choked. _Score one for Lucas!_ Rachel thought.

"Don't get all worked up Broody, those were Rachel's words, not mine," Brooke said, deciding that if Lucas could play the game, so could she.

"So you saying it sucked goat's ass then?" Shit, caught. _Damn it Rachel!_ Brooke brought her glass to her lips again. Why couldn't she have put any Twix on that tray?! 

Lucas raised a single eyebrow and waited for her to respond. He knew Rachel was goading Brooke. But he couldn't help it. He wanted to hear his Pretty Girl admit to the same insanely strong reactions he'd had, even if they had had the talk they'd gone through last night. Neither one had talked about _the kiss_. They'd actually skirted just about every possible topic that might have brought it up, and just talked about them. Not that it hadn't been worth it.

"I plead the fifth and invoke my right to silence." Her words were met by snickers of laughter as Rachel reached for something to munch on. Brooke threw her a glance that positively screamed of a painful retribution at the earliest chance.

Lucas wasn't entirely certain how to handle her answer. Part of him rationalized that a refusal to confirm Rachel's last comment meant that she really had thought the kiss was pretty damn good. But the male hormone driven part insisted on actually _hearing_ her affirm the god like qualities of the kiss they'd shared. He shifted in his seat and took another drink. He'd just have to corner her at one point and make her admit to her feelings. Whatever they may be.

"How come you're awake Luke?" Brooke's voice snapped him from his thoughts, and he had to pause for a moment.

"Yeah, I mean, here I thought I was going to get some peace and quiet out here, and now I'm being invaded by people!"

"Oh like you don't love having company, it brings you attention," he scoffed. "I guess I just couldn't sleep. I think I've gotten more rest and sleep in the three nights I've been here than all of last year. I tried to lay down and sleep just wouldn't come!"

"I hear ya on that one Luke. Same thing happens to me every time. I get so caught up on rest that I start to feel restless. It's all good though. Tomorrow we'll go do something insane that's physically intense and exhaustion will force us into sleep tomorrow night."

Brooke nodded her head in agreement, plans already rolling through her head for the next day.

The table fell lapsed into a comfortable silence as the three sipped drinks and munched quietly. The sound of the waves added a soft soundtrack to their individual thoughts, and Brooke was once again eternally grateful for everything that had led her to the property.

"What time is it?"

"Huh?" Lucas brought his attention back to Rachel, who'd broken the silence with her soft words.

"I was just wondering what time it was. The sunrise shouldn't be too far off. And you can't leave sunny SoCal without seeing at least one sunrise and one sunset. It's just not allowed." Rachel's voice had a soft, contemplative quality to it, one Lucas hadn't heard in a long, long time.

"Hang on, I'll go check. Besides, I need a bottle of water anyways," Brooke answered, standing from the table to stretch before walking inside. She'd been extremely quiet as well, soaking up the soothing quality of the night too.

Luke and Rachel remained silent while Brooke wandered around inside, more because words just weren't needed than from any kind of awkwardness. Sure, there were things that could be talked about, things they could discuss that were probably better brought out into the open than left swept under the rug. But right then? At that exact moment?

Yeah…the silence fit so much better. There'd be the next day, or the next night, or hell, the day after that, to discuss those things. As Brooke returned to the table with three waters and settled down in her seat, she nodded to the horizon. The first rays of light peaked over the edge of the ocean and Rachel was pleased to learn they'd get to watch the sunrise sooner than she'd expected.

The three friends sat at their table, sharing in the beautiful hues of the sky as it transitioned from night to day. It was more than Lucas could have ever dreamed of, it was what Rachel dreamed of every night when things turned too ugly, and it was the real life dream Brooke had always hoped for. To share a sunrise surrounded by her best friends, her family, and know that the new day would hold nothing but laughter and joy for them all.


	7. The Rules

"Okay seriously? Six flags?"

"What?" Brooke scoffed. _She_ thought it was a brilliant idea. Rachel had suggested something that would be physically exhaustive. What better than wandering around a theme park, jazzed up on caffeine and adrenaline highs? Screaming at the top of your lungs?

"We aren't eighteen any more Brooke!"

"Yeah, and we aren't grandmas either! We're twenty-four! Come on!"

Brooke turned pleadingly to Lucas who'd sat quietly in the back seat of the car and watched as they pulled up to the immense parking lot. He'd been on roller coasters sure, but there was something some what intimidating about going to a Six Flags theme park. They were known for their thrill seeking rides. And making bigger men than him cry for their mommies.

"Broody, please, help me out here. Tell me you're in agreement with me here," Brooke begged, turning those big green eyes on for full effect. She nearly crowed at the crumbling so clearly evident in his expression.

"Maybe it wont be that bad Rach. I mean, they've got rides that aren't so back-breaking, we could do this," he said hesitantly. He _really_ wasn't sure about this. But what Brooke Davis wanted, Brooke Davis got. "It _might_ be fun," he tacked on, making sure to emphasize the 'might' in his words. He was most definitely NOT sure about this.

"Yes! See, I told you. Come on, wussbag behind us is willing, are you _really_ going to let a _boy_ one up you?"

"Hey! Man!" Lucas rushed to defend himself, then realized he'd probably chosen the wrong term to dispute. Wussbag? Really?

Rachel huffed and crossed her arms, leaning against the hood of the car. Sure, she'd initially been thrilled with the idea of going to Six Flags, but that had been _before_ she'd seen the red giant known as Viper. She was a drinker, not a thriller. Right?

"Oh, fine. But I swear, if I puke all over you, it's so not my fault," Rachel whined, giving in. Brooke was right. They needed this, she'd suggested it, like _hell_ she was going to let Lucas show her up, and it was supposed to be fun. Hundreds of thousands of returning patrons couldn't all be wrong, could they?

"Alright!" Brooke jumped up and down, clapping her hands together. She'd been on all the rides at one point or another, knew which ones to avoid because of the headaches, and knew which ones to go on as many damn times as you could. This was going to be a blast!

-

"Rachel!"

"Aww come on Lukie! You're the one who sided with Brooke and said it could be fun!"

"Fun?! You call going on that damn spinning thing ten times fun!?" Lucas had known Rachel had a sadistic side to her, he'd just never pegged it for quite so ruthless.

Brooke was still throwing up in the trashcan so she wasn't much help to Lucas at the moment. Well, at least not verbally.

"Look at Brooke! She's puking Rach! For the sake of your friend!"

"Oh like that's reeeeally going to help your cause. This whole day was her harebrained idea in the first place," Rachel replied gaily, relishing in the pure glee she was feeling at having beat her two friends at their own game.

"Okay, okay, we give. We'll go home if you want to," Brooke finally added, having rinsed her mouth out and collected herself. She'd never imagined Spin Out being anything other than a blast until Rachel Gattina got her claws into it.

"What? Home? No," Rachel purred sweetly. "I wouldn't dream of ruining our day of excitement!" She grinned evilly. Brooke and Lucas groaned. It was going to be a looooong day.

-

"I believe she said she wasn't interested," Lucas growled, stepping between Brooke and the cesspool escapee.

"Oh what are you? The big bad protector?" The gnat-like man had been following the girls' movement while they'd waited for Lucas to retrieve their photos from the picture booth for Viper. He'd taken an exceptionally long time, a fact which had not gone unnoticed by the stalker they'd managed to acquire.

"I'm apparently the only guy who understands plain English. You've been informed your presence is not required, I suggest you back off." Lucas was pissed.

The women had been immensely relieved when their blonde haired rescuer had popped back up. The short frumpy, sad excuse for a man had been hitting on them non stop for the last five minutes and all threats short of complete and utter dismemberment had gone unheeded.

"I was just talking to these two fine ladies is all," the sewer fugitive supplied, leering disgustingly at Brooke and Rachel. They shuddered in horror.

Lucas stepped just that tiny bit closer to the intruder and came dangerously close to invading his personal space.

"If you don't find another spot to occupy in the next thirty seconds that doesn't put you at least a mile outside of our vicinity, I'll personally make sure you don't ever walk again," Lucas said menacingly.

Whether it was the tone of his voice or the sincerity of his expression, or perhaps the taunting in his eyes that almost begged him to push it so Lucas would have the pleasure of beating him into a bloody pulp, the obnoxious idiot gulped hard, nodded acquiescence, and took off running. Lucas almost sighed…he'd so wanted to hit him.

"Broody! Our hero!" Brooke jumped on his back and planted a kiss on his neck near his ear, delighting in the shiver that ran down his spine. She was genuinely relieved to see him and thankful for what he'd done, but she wasn't about to pass up a shot at teasing him. Or at 'feeling' out his responses to her subtle advances.

"Brooke don't jump the poor man's bones in public! At least have the decency to find a bush before you thank him," Rachel added, snickering at the expression on their would be defender's face. He was torn somewhere between embarrassment at Rachel's words, lustful pleasure at having Brooke so close to him, and satisfaction that he'd chased away the pervert. It was…interesting.

Brooke giggled and slid down Lucas' back, making sure her body stayed pressed as close as possible til the very last second. The slight flush that crept up the back of his neck was her reward, along with a saucy wink from Rachel. She madly grinned back.

-

"Okay seriously, you wouldn't even let me pay for the tickets Brooke. Why can't I pay for dinner?" Lucas was beginning to lose control of his frustration. He understood being an independent woman, but this was borderline insanity.

Brooke huffed and looked at him.

"Rachel, explain to our not so intelligent friend here what the rules are," Brooke snipped back, reaching for another French fry off Lucas' plate.

"Rules?" There were rules? Great. No one had mentioned there were rules.

"Yes, Lucas. I swear, you'd think you'd never done this before-"

"That's cause I _haven't_ Rachel, just in case you forgot."

"Jesus Lucas, I didn't mean going to Brooke's! I meant visiting a friend period!"

"_Jesus_ Rachel," Luke mimicked, "I knew that part. And I haven't! Why do you think I latched onto you so fast in New York?"

"Oh well that's easy, because you finally admitted how much you wanted me and came to your senses. You just realized how good I really was, and how better off you'd be with me in your life," Rachel replied airily.

Brooke and Lucas looked at her as she waved a hand lazily in the air, looked at each other, and busted up laughing. Brooke snorted coke out thru her nose which sent Lucas over the edge and Rachel yelped in disgust. She so didn't need Brooke coke snot all over her green top. Gross.

"Alright, you can stop now." Rachel drummed her fingers on the tabletop, waiting impatiently for her companions to pull themselves together. Somewhere around five minutes later Brooke finally managed to stop laughing and placed a calming hand on Lucas' knee. To which he immediately sobered up and gulped, hard. Brooke smiled giddily inside.

"Okay, sorry Rachel, truly. So just what are these…rules," Lucas asked, relishing in the feel of Brooke's cool hand on his bared skin.

"It's actually pretty simple. When I come here to visit, it's all on Brooke's dime except for my travel to and from New York. Anything we do, she pays for, with the exception of shopping. We tried that one year, it didn't work out so nicely. In six months or so, she'll come up to New York, and the roles will flip. It'll all be on my dime."

"You're dime? Why not mine?"

"You know, for someone who's supposed to be smarter than the average bear, you're sure demonstrating some pretty dunce-like qualities." Brooke giggled at the fancy words and Rachel smirked. Lucas just glared.

"Your point?"

"Lucas, you're _my _guest. I dragged you along. Her trip to New York will be my responsibility."

"That somehow just doesn't seem fair."

"Oh it will be. I'll have two visits from Brooke before my next one back out here is all."

"You're being straight? This is how you guys do this?"

"Yep. It just made things easier. We quit squabbling over who paid for what, or rather, who didn't pay for what, and just claimed home turf. When I'm the host, it's my treat. All of it. Anything and everything we do. Not like I can't afford it, shit. Same goes for Rachel. When she's the host, she foots the bill for anything we do while I'm there." Brooke shrugged, like it all made perfect sense. And to them, he guessed in a twisted, somewhat sane way, it did.

"Well, then how do I join this particular cycle of visits?"

"That eager to cough up your money Broody?" Brooke was piqued by his insistence. It was cute, but seriously unnecessary.

"I already owed Rachel more than I'd care to keep track of for bailing my ass out in New York, and for bringing me along on this trip. I owe you for welcoming me when you didn't have to, and I've relaxed more and felt more at ease in the last few days than I did all last year in New York. I meant it when I said I'd slept more here than back at home. I want to show my gratitude."

Both women looked at Lucas for a long minute and were slightly awed. Sure, he'd always been the one who was there for others, was more in tune with the sensitivity of things, had a deeper understanding of how people ticked. But this…this was new. This was grown up Lucas taking a stand and facing his responsibilities. They were floored.

"Alright, look. You've got an open invitation to come visit. So next time, you spring for the tickets and drag my ass back out here, and then it'll be your dime the next two times Brooke comes to visit," Rachel supplied matter-of-factly. Her words had their desired affect and Lucas groaned.

"I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"Yep," both women supplied, laughing lightly.

-

"Exhaustion has been achieved Davis," Rachel moaned as she slid bonelessly onto the couch. Lucas flopped down into a recliner and nodded his head in agreement.

"You two are wimps, honestly. You'd think we'd spent the entire day running a marathon!"

"We practically did!" Lucas was certain he'd be sore in places he hadn't known he had. Which is something he'd much rather have earned due to other physical activities. Preferably ones that involved only one woman, and a soft, bouncy mattress.

"Alright, so I admit, the staying up until dawn this morning might not have been the best precursor to your introduction to Six Flags, but come on! You're the ones who wanted to see it!"

"Well forgive us for not having the view you have," Rachel scoffed, rearranging the pillow to get comfy.

"Whatever. You two geezers catch up on your rest, I'm going out for a walk," Brooke waved dismissively and went to change into more appropriate beach walk attire. By all rights she should be just as tired as them, but for some reason, she just couldn't sit still. The day had gone really really well, and maybe she just wasn't ready for it to end yet.

When she stepped back out into the common area Rachel and Lucas were sleeping softly and Brooke couldn't help but smile indulgently. Life was always more fun when she was surrounded by her friends, her family. And having them there with her, filling her house with the sounds of life and laughter and…warmth, she couldn't help but smile. It was perfect.

Brooke wandered down the dark shore, watching the ocean as it crashed against the beach. The full moon shone brightly down on the surface leaving a river of gems in its wake. The night sky was clear tonight, stars twinkling in the blackness. The brunette inhaled deeply, taking in the humid sea air. Most nights Brooke hated the sticky feeling of the really hot summer nights. Tonight though a breeze ruffled her long hair and soothed the stuffy feeling.

Somewhere out there was a pod of dolphins jumping in the air and cavorting under the waves. Somewhere out there was a deep trench with hidden secrets that hundred of years and massive improvements in technology wouldn't uncover them all. The mystery of the sea had always held a strong appeal for Brooke.

Her own life had always seemed so…elusive. When her parents moved and left her in Tree Hill, she'd been so lost. When she'd graduated high school and went on her way to California she'd been scared and curious at the same time. And when she'd been left all on her own there, and had to struggle for each accolade she earned, each sale she made, each design hanging on the rack, she'd finally found a place to belong. It was like her life had come in waves, some leaving bits and pieces of the ocean floor on the beach, some erasing portions of her life when they'd become too hard to handle.

Brooke had never expected to run into Lucas again. Sure, she had known that Rachel was helping Lucas with some of his stuff, they had talked enough and stayed close that it would have been weird had she not known. She'd just never expected to actually watch him cook in her kitchen, or sleep on her furniture, or know that he was a door down from her own bedroom. It was weird, and sparked all sorts of feelings Brooke had thought long buried.

Kissing him had sent all the memories she'd managed to push back slamming to the forefront. The feel of his lips on hers, the way she fit perfectly in his arms, how _right_ it all seemed. These were things she hadn't been prepared to feel, not now, maybe not ever again.

"Someone up there better be having one hell of a chuckle-fest over all this," Brooke mumbled to herself. A lump in the sand attracted her attention and she crouched down, digging her slender fingers into the damn beach. Brooke was rewarded with a smooth rock that glinted with the promise of a hidden geode.

Thumbing the larger of the sides, Brooke sighed again.

"What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to handle him back in my life?"

Brooke was talking to herself, or maybe to the sea; she didn't know anymore. It was all so…fuzzy.

"He's always been a part of me. Shit, he _will_ always be a part of me. I guess I've just got to figure out how large a part I want him to hold," Brooke concluded, letting the sound of the waves drown out the confusion in her heart. It had taken three years to finally close that chapter of her life after they'd all gone their separate ways. She sure as hell wasn't going to figure out how to write the newest chapter in just one night.

-

Lucas tossed in his sleep and nearly fell off the chair he'd managed to slouch nearly all the way down in. Groaning, he rubbed his eyes and finally registered the pure black of night still resting over the house.

He shifted his weight and stood up, stretching his back and relishing in the feel of his muscles as they pulled and bunched in all the right places. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rachel sleeping quietly on the other sofa, and smiled at the thoughtfulness of Brooke for the blanket that covered her. It was a relatively warm night, but still. No nap, or sleep of the dead for that matter, was complete without a blanket.

Thoughts of Brooke sent his eyes searching the rooms for sign of the diminutive woman. When there were no other signs coming from the house, he finally checked the time and was startled to realize it was almost two in the morning. Lucas padded silently down to Brooke's room to see if maybe she'd returned from her walk and was slightly panicked to discover an empty bed with no signs of having being slept in recently.

"She must still be gone for her walk," Lucas muttered, stopping by his own room to change into shorts and head out the back door. He was worried.

Half way between the porch and the coastline Lucas spotted her sitting on the sand, one hand drawing a lazy design in the damp shore. The worry and stress dissolved from his athletic frame and he sighed audibly. He was much more relaxed now. He jogged quietly to her spot and sat down when she looked up and smiled at his presence.

"Have you been up this whole time?"

"Yeah, sleep just wasn't in the cards tonight, I guess. It happens." Delicate shoulders shrugged in a way that hinted at just how often it happened. Apparently more frequently than she would have preferred.

"What's on your mind?"

"Have you ever heard of the Flying Dutchman?"

"Huh?"

"The ghost ship, Lucas. Come on, stick with me," Brooke teased, nudging his shoulder with her own.

"You mean, like the Pirates movie ghost ship?"

"That's the Hollywood version dummy. I meant the legend."

Lucas laughed and waved his hand. "Well by all means, o great story teller, do tell," he joked.

Brooke glared at him and contemplated tossing some sand in his general direction.

"You're lucky you're hot Luke, otherwise you'd so be rubbing sand out of your eyes," she sassed back.

"Alright, quit stalling. So what exactly _is_ the Flying Dutchman?"

"In the 1600s it's said that a ship captained by a sailor determined to make a particular trek swore his soul to the completion of his goal. I'm not sure what exactly brought about the downfall or why exactly the ship's been set to sail the seas forever, but the concept behind the ship…it's intriguing. I've been doing research on the seas and the legends that surround it, I guess more to wile away the hours than anything else."

She paused for a moment, not real sure just how far she wanted to carry her explanation.

"Cheery?"

Brooke turned slightly and eyed the blonde next to her. They'd both changed much in the past six years, changes she'd not expected or seen coming on either side. She was a big girl now, right? She was…Brooke Davis. She could do this. She could trust him again. God she hoped she could trust him again.

"Right. The Flying Dutchman roamed the seas doomed to never return to port. The only desire of the seamen on deck was to find release from their unceasing travels and to that extent they tried to send messages to other ships they'd come close enough to actually communicate with. Some talk of a ship that had allowed a four man boat to row close enough to toss letters to home onto their deck. They narrowly escaped death. The Flying Dutchman turned into a harbinger of death, a symbol of doom on the next rise."

"Uh…alright. And this has to do with them wanting to go home, how?" Lucas was confused. No, wait, he was beyond confused. He had no clue where she was going with this.

"Do you ever feel like you're lost?"

"Huh?"

Brooke laughed. Poor Lucas.

"It took me a while, but I started to realize I was lost. For the most part I still am. I wander through life, doing the best I can to work with what I've got, but it's like I'm the human real life version of the Dutchman. I want nothing more than to go home, but I'm slated to spend my whole life just…billowing in the wind."

Ahh. Now he's got it. He thinks.

Before Lucas can open his mouth to assuage her fears, she's off and talking again.

"I just wanted to find the place I belonged. I realized tonight though, maybe it's not a place I'm looking for. Maybe it's a person. Maybe it's a bunch of persons. Maybe I've been looking everywhere but what's smack in front of me, and I've been letting my port in stormy seas slip through my fingers."

Brooke turned back toward the sea, not wanting to see the expression in those blue eyes. The sea had turned nearly to black, the depths hiding the secrets of the world. Lucas, his eyes, well they just might hold the secrets of _her_ world, and she wasn't entirely certain she was ready to come face to face with those secrets.

"I've been trying to figure out what I want from this life, from my life. I've got a lot of good things here Luke. A lot. But it just doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like it's enough. Does that sound selfish?"

The brooding blonde took a deep breath and rested his elbows on his bent knees. She'd just opened up a _huge_ window into her soul, her deepest thoughts, and he needed to tread lightly here. One misstep, one bad phrase, and he'd be screwed.

"We all want to find that one place that screams _home_ in all sense of the word. For some, it's the childhood house that holds the height marks and the dent from when you kicked the wall by accident aiming for the ball and the blood stains in the carpet due to jumping off the back of the couch and busting your lip with your tooth when you fell flat on your face. For others, it's the new apartment that becomes invaded by friends and family and finally that significant other that just wont go away." Lucas inhaled again, pulling a tight rein on his thoughts so they wouldn't scatter. He needed to stay focused.

"I can understand you wanting to find home, Cheery. We all want that. It's just not as easy for others as it may seem to some. Home is so…illusive. How do you pinpoint something that has a dozen different meanings?"

"Exactly! Have you found your home?"

Something in the tone of her voice alerted Lucas to just how dangerous the answer to that question would be. If he said yes, she'd be happy and relieved to know the search could come to an eventual end, but fearful that maybe his home didn't include her in his life. If he said no, she'd panic that if he couldn't find home, then how in the world was she supposed to?

"I'm getting there. I'm closer to home now, here, than I have been in years," he ventured, hoping she'd believe the sincerity behind his words, and catch the hidden meaning.

"What happened Lucas? What went so wrong in New York that you welcomed Rachel, that she felt she needed to drag you here?"

"I'm surprised Rachel hasn't said anything to you."

"It's not her story to tell. And it's not fair of me to ask her. Not like that."

Lucas was surprised. He'd have figured the two would have shared every tiny tidbit of the things that had happened.

"Rachel's not what everyone else thinks. She's loyal to a fault. If she's promised to keep your secrets, or thinks its something that's better off coming directly from you, on your own time, then she'll stick to it. I've gotten bits and pieces, stories of drunken calls and of course all the good notes. But anything remotely dark? Yeah, she's been tight lipped. It's your closet, she's not going to open that door."

Lucas shifted his dark gaze out to the white caps gently kissing the shoreline. He'd known there was more to Rachel for a while now. But hearing that she'd kept his secrets for him, done things he'd not expected her to do, he was touched anew.

"She's an amazing woman, isn't she?"

"Yes, yes she is. Any man lucky enough to get past her walls and touch her heart had best beware. I may be small, but I'll stomp the asshole that even dares to hurt her." Brooke's hazel eyes snapped with ferocity. She meant every damn word, heaven help whatever sod was next in line.

Lucas chuckled, he'd been on the receiving end of that famous Davis temper a few times. He'd no desire to do so willingly.

"No worries Cheery, I love her, but she's more like a sister than a potential relationship. You may have first crack at said idiot, but I'm next in line," he said softly, wanting it plain as day just where he stood in his relationship with Rachel. The only woman to touch his heart like that was currently sitting, most likely completely oblivious of the very fact, right next to him.

"Do you think I'll ever find home, Broody?" It was almost too quiet, the words she spoke. If he hadn't been so fine-tuned to her every movement, he'd have lost her words to the sounds of the sea.

Something inside Lucas shattered at the trepidation in her voice. He was supposed to be the one who brooded, who took the worries and cares of the world onto his shoulders. The one bright focus of his life was slowly dimming with the harshness of reality weighing her down.

"I know you will Pretty Girl, I know you will," he replied just as softly, slipping his long fingers through her own and squeezing gently. She had to. His Pretty Girl needed to stay bright and sparkly. She was his lighthouse in the storm he'd been riding in the past two years. She needed to keep shining so he could find his own way home, back to her.

They needed each other. And maybe, just maybe, sitting on a shore in the black of night, they both finally admitted it. Just maybe.

**AN: Wow…alright, so yeah. I suck. Sorry? sheepish smile I've been having a hard time getting through the funk that comes from reality intruding on the fantasies in my head, and I lost the track of my writing. But I'm fighting my way back, and I hope y'all are still with me. Thank you soooo much to those who sent me PMs kicking my ass for not posting an update. I swear I'm still alive, I'm going to finish my stories (damnit if it's the last thing I do, I WILL have finished stories. I need **_**something**_** to be finished in my life) and I'm working on updates for the other stories. **


	8. Miles

**AN: Wow…the response to my last chapter was, well, nothing short of amazing. I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who left a review for sharing, it seriously helped me get back my muse. I know everyone wants Brucas, and trust me, its coming. I left a few things open ended in the last update for a reason, they come into play very very soon. Fair warning to all, this chapter may seem like it's coming out of left field but I think you'll find it fits in the grander scheme of things. It's a little dark, but I meant it to be. Be patient with me, and I'll bring them together quite soon. It'll happen! Hope you guys like this chapter, I'm actually pretty proud of it. Let me know what y'all think! Z**

-

"Fuck!"

A slam against the wall he shared with Brooke's bedroom drew Lucas from the sleepy state he'd been drifting in and out of since they'd come back inside.

"How?"

Stomp.

"And you just _let_ him?!"

Stomp. Stomp.

"You did WHAT?!"

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

Now mind you, this all was rather muffled…a wall, god knew how much actual air space between him and the currently fuming stomping brunette, and the fuzziness floating through his muddled brain having all come between her words and his comprehension.

However the shaking of said wall as something met its untimely demise and shattered all over her floor cleared whatever cobwebs he may have been entertaining.

"What the hell?" Lucas threw off the covers and strode to his door, throwing it open to see Rachel standing in the doorway of her own bedroom.

"Wait Lucas. Give her a minute, she'll be out when she's ready," the red head said quietly.

"What if she's hurt? Something just broke in there," he insisted.

"Can't you hear her stomping around in there? Besides, she's still on the phone," Rachel supplied.

"No. This is NOT okay. You KNEW better!" Again, muffled. Well, maybe slightly clearer seeing as how it was just a door this time instead of a supporting wall.

"Okay, so we wait?"

Rachel nodded. "We wait."

"Dammit!"

"NO! You keep him there. I'll come in."

"I don't _care_ how you keep him there. If you value your career in this industry you will guarantee his presence when I show up at the office." The pure malice and utter surety of Brooke's tone sent shivers down Lucas' spine and he wasn't even tied to whatever it was going on. That woman could be hard as steel when she wanted to be.

A few more muffled curses, some dark muttering, and the door to her bedroom flew open, revealing a fully dressed Brooke, eyes snapping, cheeks flushed. She was pissed. Lucas felt instantly sorry for whatever poor sod was at the root cause of all this.

"I'm sorry, but you've got to go," Brooke said, her voice softer than either party had expected.

"Go?" Way to go Lucas, play dumb. Not.

"He's here."

"Who's here Brooke?" Yes, thank you Rachel, step in and save me from being an even bigger idiot, Lucas silently cheered.

"Miles."

"Consider us gone," Rachel hastily said, nearly head-butting Lucas back into his room and slamming the door.

"Hurry up Lucas, we've got to go," Rachel urged, chucking his suitcase onto the mussed up sheets and disappearing into the walk in closet.

"Go? Go where? Why? Who's Miles?" Lucas was thoroughly confused. And not at all comfortable with the idea of leaving Brooke behind with some guy if this was the end result. He'd never seen Rachel move so fast.

"No questions, there isn't time. We've got to go. Just hurry up and pack!" Rachel was tossing shirts and pants out the open closet door, not even trying to aim for the suitcase. If Lucas had any hope of seeing his clothes survive the experience, he'd better hop to.

"Whoa Rach! Let me pack, alright? You go take care of your stuff." Lucas rescued his latest clothing item from her clutches and pushed Rachel out the door. "Go on, I'll pack, just like you asked," he assured her.

He waited just long enough to hear the door across the hall click shut before slipping back out and going in search of Brooke. Something was up, and he was hell bent to find out what.

The scent of coffee drew him to the kitchen, where he noticed the door to the back porch open ajar.

"Brooke?"

"Oh, hey Lucas. Listen-"

"What's going on?"

"Something's come up, and while I really really don't want to cut your visit short, I need to go into work. And I, well, I just can't have you guys staying here right now," she said softly, gripping the railing in front of her tightly. God how she hated this.

"That doesn't really answer the question though Cheery," Lucas replied, stepping up next to her, just grazing her bared arm. The wind was a little chilly this morning, the ocean breeze cooling the temperature down considerably.

"Look, I'd explain, but I'm just not up for it right now. I really am sorry though, you've got to believe me.

"Is it anything I can help with? I'm not sure how thrilled I am with the idea of leaving you alone with this Miles guy. From the way you were talking about him this morning, he's not the top of your best friends list."

"That's sweet, really. But this is something I have to deal with on my own." Brooke looked resigned, defeated almost. She wasn't shining so brightly, and it scared him to the very depths of his soul.

"Lucas! I told you to pack!" Rachel stormed onto the porch and gripped his arm, literally dragging him behind her. "You need to pack! Or I will pack for you!"

Brooke smiled at the helpless look on his face, and would have laughed outright at the sight of her tiny friend hauling around the big, strong Lucas if it hadn't been for the sheer terror of the situation she was in. The last thing she'd seen coming was Miles.

"Damn you Miles Duncan."

-

"You'll be okay, right bitch?" Rachel was worried. Miles…that wasn't good.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I've handled him before."

"Will someone _please_ fill me in on who this Miles dude is? I'm itching to beat some faces and I'd really love to know why I'm using my fists before I do it, honest."

"Broody, stop. Enough. If you really want to know, get on the damn plane and Rachel has my permission to fill you in. But you've got to stay there, this isn't your battle." Brooke was frustrated. He'd pestered her the entire car ride to the airport, and all the way through the check in line. He didn't know when to drop a subject, did her stubborn blonde?

"Brooke-"

"No Lucas! You need to get going, your flight's leaving soon. You don't want to miss it."

"Actually yes, yes I do," he deadpanned.

"Well too fucking bad Lucas. Bye bitch, I'll call you when we're back in New York," Rachel said, dragging Lucas with her. Sure, she was worried, concerned. But when Brooke said leave, and it didn't involve life threatening events – or at least Rachel didn't think so – then she listened. They were best friends. Brooke knew what was best.

Brooke watched Rachel and Lucas step through the security gate and waved when they turned. Lucas jerked to a stop and looked like he had all intentions of turning into a tree and planting roots right where he was until Rachel yanked on his collar, said something in his ear, and he paled.

Trust Rachel to know what to say to get her way, Brooke thought. God how she hated this.

"Damn you Miles Duncan."

-

The fashion diva slammed her way through the lobby of her building and up through to her private elevator. There was something to be said for owning your own building, or at least a portion thereof, and for having a name up there with Michael Kors and whatnot.

As Brooke waited for the doors to open on her floor she fumed. What was he doing here? Why was he here? And why the FUCK wouldn't he just go _away!!_

The ding announcing her arrival startled Brooke from her thoughts and she slid on her game face. This was war she was walking into, and she'd be damned if she didn't come out the victor. This was the last straw.

She threw open the main door to her office and was rewarded with a _thunk _as it connected with the wall. An evil smile crept its way onto her lips.

"Where is he," she said, voice hard as steel, hazel eyes cold as ice. There would be no sympathy found in her today. Nope, today, her entire office had betrayed her. They were just lucky heads weren't rolling.

A soundless grimace and a finger pointed in the direction of her office. Her _office?_ Hmm, Brooke may need to rethink the whole no heads rolling policy for the day.

"You let him in my _office?!_ Are you insane?!"

"I'm sorry Miss Davis, he didn't leave us much choice. He slammed his way through the office and before anyone could stop him he shut and locked your door. We tried to get him to come out, but he's been silent since he arrived." The receptionist was literally trembling. She didn't know who the man was that had arrived, but by the way James had paled at the question of just who was occupying the office, she knew it wasn't good.

Brooke rubbed her face for a minute. She had after all demanded he be kept in the building. But she hadn't expected anyone to be so dumb as to let him into her _office_.

"You might want to find yourself a new job sugar. I need a receptionist with a backbone," Brooke snapped. How'd she miss what a spineless idiot the girl was?

She didn't wait for a reply. Sure, it might have been hasty. But hell…some of her best decisions had been made spur of the moment.

Slipping her keys from her pocket, Brooke unlocked her office door and pushed it open. She was nervous, hell she was terrified, but she wasn't going to let anyone else know that. As far as the occupant inside was concerned, she was a cold blooded bitch who was pissed as hell that someone had dared enter her office without her permission.

Standing there, his back to her, was Miles…god it was Miles.

"What cesspool did you crawl out of? And what in the _world_ makes you think you have any fucking right to MY office?"

At the sound of her voice the man at the window turned around, a cocky grin on his face.

"Well hello to you too firecracker. Now is that anyway to greet your husband?"

-

"Alright. I'm seated. Now who the fuck is Miles?"

"Impatient much?"

"Just tell me Rachel. Who's Miles?!"

"Wait till the plane's taken off. Once I know we're in the air and there's nothing you can do to get off, I'll answer as many questions as I can." Rachel was stalling, they both knew it, and all it did was make Lucas more nervous. Rachel never stalled. Shit, any chance she got to make someone squirm she took full advantage of.

"Are you serious? You're really going to make me wait?"

"I have to Luke. It's not the nicest most pleasant story in the world. What I want to know is just what you and Brooke have been doing that she's given me permission to tell you about what is perhaps the darkest chapter of her twenty-four years so far."

"You can't change the subject."

"Yes I can, and I just did."

"I don't want to talk about what happened with me and Brooke. I want to talk about this Miles dude."

"Lucas, seriously, let it go for now," Rachel said. She understood now why Brooke had been so pissed.

The flight attendant walked down the aisle doing her last check for tray tables and seat backs and buckles, while her partner in the tight blue suit followed behind her, reaching above their heads to secure the carry on bags. Take off was set for ten minutes or less, and Rachel was silently begging for them to hurry the fuck up.

Lucas, however, was seriously contemplating what the ramifications of claiming a bomb on board and sprinting out of the terminal would be, and if he'd be able to catch up to Brooke before airport security accosted him. He had a nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach, and he really, really, _really_ didn't want to leave. It all felt…wrong.

Both lost in their own musings, they failed to hear the attendant chime in over the paging system and run through the obligatory safety and security measures. Only the pressure of ascent as the plane left the tarmac succeeded in breaking through their preoccupation, and Lucas was finally forced to resign himself to the fact that at least for now, there was nothing he could do about Brooke and whatever situation she'd managed to get herself into now.

"Alright Rachel. We're in the air. No more excuses. Who's Miles?"

-

On the other side of the country sat a little girl in a café that served the best brownies and had the world's most amazing chocolate milk.

"Mommy?"

"Yes sugar?"

"When will Chloe be back?"

"Your sister went with Mrs. Parks for her piano lesson. She'll be back in an hour or so," Karen replied.

"Oh. Then can we go play on the swings?"

"Of course Lily," she replied.

"Good. Chloe's been awful sad lately, and I don't like seeing my little sister so depressed," the young girl said maturely.

"I know dear. You've been an excellent big sister for her. Did I mention how much I appreciate that today?"

The little girl grinned. "Nope."

"Oh, well then, I'll just have to fix that, wont I?"

She nodded her head firmly and the Scott twinkle sparked from her blue eyes. Mommy always found interesting ways to fix things.

-

"Miles, you need to leave. Now."

"Now wifey, let's be real. I don't _have_ to go anywhere."

Brooke growled and stomped her foot. She slammed the door behind her and chucked her purse onto her desk. She didn't have time for this, not to mention the patience.

"I am NOT your wife! God! Just sign the fucking papers so I can move on!"

The man who'd been the bane of her existence for the past five years just smirked. He so loved getting under her skin.

"Sign what papers sugar? You can't mean those nasty things your lawyer keeps sending me, can you? Because, seriously, I thought you were joking," he threw back.

"Miles! Stop it! Why are you doing this?!" Brooke slammed herself into her chair, dumping her head into her hands. _Don't cry, Brooke. Pull it together. He's not worth another shed tear, one more sleepless night. You're stronger than this,_ she thought.

"Why am I doing this? You have the audacity to ask?" His voice dropped to a deathly monotone, a chilling seriousness he'd not maintained when she'd first entered. At one time she'd have found the change startling, something not even remotely possible of the man she'd fallen head over heels for. Now? Now she knew all the rest of it was the charade, that this, right now, was the truth. She almost laughed in derision. At herself, at the situation, at how stupid she could be, even now.

"We're done Miles. I've already told you this. There is nothing there for you, nothing here," Brooke waved at her office, then at her own body, "anymore. It's over."

"It's only over when I _say_ it's over. And quite honestly I'm not done spending your money yet," he sneered.

"My money? You idiot. You haven't been spending my money. You've been spending your own," Brooke snapped back, knowing full well just how angry the revelation would make him.

"What?!"

"Numbnuts, when you signed your named to that license you signed over rights to everything you could possibly own. I've been forwarding all your ludicrous spending to your own personal bank accounts. How'd you not notice this?"

"Brooke! Damn you!" He came perilously close to hitting her, a fact that had not gone unnoticed by herself. She didn't budge though. _Bring it on, give me grounds to file for immediate divorce and win,_ she silently begged.

"What'd you expect me to do Duncan? You refuse to sign the damn papers! And I'll be damned if I'm going to foot the bill for another one of your trips around the fucking world!"

"That was a dumb move Davis. Really stupid." His eyes had gone cold, his voice thick with suppressed anger.

"No, Miles, what's dumb is refusing to let go. I'm not your wife, I haven't been since I found out what you did. If you just sign the damn papers, we can end this shit," Brooke practically yelled. She was so tired of fighting.

"Well then I guess we'll just keep this dance going for a while wifey dearest. Cause I'm not signing a damn thing," he spat. The asshole knew a good thing when he found it, and he'd worked entirely too hard to get Brooke. He wasn't about to let it slip through his fingers. It just meant he was going to have to be a bit more careful with his spending for a while was all.

"Miles, don't make me do this. Don't force my hand," she said softly.

"Ha! Like you have a hand left to play," he laughed disbelievingly.

"I'll call them, Miles. One phone call. All I have to do is pick up the damn phone, and you're done."

His face paled, the only sign that he understood what she said.

"I'll do it Miles. I'll call them, tell them what you've done, and you'll be left out all alone. I don't want to ruin you, despite what you may think. I've even written a generous clause into the divorce papers, even though I don't have to. But I want my life back. I want my freedom, and more than anything I want to be _done_ with you. If you don't sign them, I'll call. I swear."

Brooke's husband just shook his head. He stepped away from the desk, his eyes dark with frustration, his stance rigid with the tension and fury roiling around inside him. Miles raised his hands, running one through his auburn locks, the other gathering his jacket from where he'd carelessly tossed it.

"Miles, I mean it."

He just shook his head again, his own green eyes snapping with some dark intent Brooke refused to delve into, and he threw open the door. Before Brooke could register his intentions he was gone, disappearing down the stairwell.

She sighed and dropped back into her chair, having at some point risen to her feet. She propped her head on her desk and groaned.

"Miss Davis?" The sound of her assistant's hesitant voice at her doorway roused Brooke momentarily. She was so exhausted. So hurt.

"Emily, please cancel any meetings I may have today. I don't want to be disturbed. At some point, if you can track James down and ask him to join me, please inform him that Miles has left and I could use a friend," Brooke replied, not even bothering to raise her head from her desk. Sure, it'd leave a mark, but that was the least of her worries.

The sound of her door clicking shut was her only answer, and Brooke groaned again.

A little over five years ago when she'd first run into Miles, she'd thought him charming and mature and everything she wanted in a partner, both in her private life, and professional career. He had an understanding of business that rivaled her mother's, yet could still cut up and let loose with the best of them.

It wasn't until she'd popped up pregnant that Brooke had begun to see hints of who he really was on inside. When her mother had insisted on a pre-nup before the wedding she'd been reluctant, but had agreed. It was one of the few things Brooke could honestly say she was thankful to her mother for.

The door opening and the sound of a beer can cracking open shook Brooke from her thoughts, and she was immensely relieved to see one of her longest standing friends shutting the door behind him.

"Emily found me, passed the message along. I'm here, let's get drunk," James supplied, handing over the freshly opened beer. Brooke sighed gratefully and took a long pull.

-

Rachel sat and thought about the question for a minute. The simple answer would only make Lucas explode, and she rather valued her ear drums. The complicated answer would taken entirely too long, and Rachel had no intention of regaling her brooding author with all the gory details while sober. If he really wanted to know, he needed to buy her a drink.

"Buy me a drink and I'll start at the beginning. If you want me to finish, then you'd best keep them coming," Rachel answered. She smiled sardonically when a long muscular arm reached up and activated the call button.

Twenty silent, but tension filled minutes later Rachel sipped gratefully on a drink, wondering how Brooke was doing and if she'd made the right decision in leaving her alone to deal. Shrugging her shoulders, for there was nothing she could do now, she turned to Lucas.

"Alright, you have to promise to stay calm and keep your trap shut until I'm done. If you lose your calm, or pull some stupid stunt or yell at me, I'll clam up faster than you can say I'm sorry, and you wont get another word out of me on the subject, we clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good. Miles is Brooke's husband."

If it had been any other time, if it had been about any other topic, Rachel would have found the expressions flitting their way across her friend's face comical. Sadly, it wasn't, and instead, she found herself impressed at the level of control he was exerting on himself. She could only imagine how painfully he must be biting on his lip to keep from asking what had to be the first of a thousand questions tumbling through his mind at that exact moment.

"She met him shortly after she'd moved out to California. Things were going really well. She even thought she'd fallen in love with him, but the rest of us hated his guts. He oozed slime and disgusting intentions everywhere he went, but for some reason Brooke was blind to it all. Personally I think it was because she was still trying to get over you." The red head couldn't help herself. It had taken a long time to forgive Luke for the heartache he'd caused her best friend. She took every opportunity she could get to pick on him.

"Something pretty major happened and she agreed to marry him. We tried to stop her, and her mother was smart enough to force her to draw up a pre-nup agreement, but Brooke was determined to see her way through the wedding. About two months into the marriage, well….oh shit. I can't do this. I need another drink."

Rachel stopped. She hadn't talked about what had happened to Brooke in a long, long time. Those who had known what was going on had pretty much reached a silent agreement never to bring the circumstances back up, and those that didn't had no reason to know. Until now.

This time she activated the call button herself, demanding a stronger drink in a larger cup, price be damned. She needed it, and she was going to get it, if it meant hog tying the attendant and making it herself.

Lucas just sat stunned. Brooke was married. How had she not mentioned this to Lucas? What was all their time together on the beach if not a rekindling of their history? Of their connection? And what of the kiss? What the hell?

Once Rachel had downed half her drink, she took a deep breath and began again.

"Alright, so the only reason you're hearing this from me is because Brooke said it was alright. I swear to whatever god you may decide to pray on, shit, on any and all gods capable of retribution and revenge, that if you breathe a word of this to anyone without her absolute permission, I'll destroy you."

Rachel inhaled deeply and took another drink.

"The asshole got Brooke pregnant. He swapped her birth control for placebos one day, and knocked her up. He wanted her to marry him, and she'd already turned him down numerous times. She was three and a half months into the pregnancy when she found out the truth. Her doctor had let it slip that Miles had come to visit him and asked about the placebos and what was the best way to go about obtaining some, and she was livid. They had a huge fight and Brooke had trouble with the pregnancy."

She had to pause. Tears stung at the back of her eyes, and she swallowed convulsively on the lump in the back of her throat. She could still hear the fear cemented in the feisty woman's voice when she called, begging her to come to California when she was admitted to the hospital.

"The doctors said she was a high risk case, and that the stress was causing complications with the pregnancy. She nearly lost the baby the first time. She kicked Miles out of the house and I stayed with her for a while. One night, I'd left to go on a date at her insistence, and Miles broke into the house. Started chucking things around, yelling, swearing that he was going to get her back and that she couldn't keep him away for ever.

"I got the call from the hospital, she'd been admitted again, and this time things didn't look good. I was terrified. I stopped by that night, and she insisted that I go home. The next day when I went to check on her, the nurse informed me that she'd checked herself out and just…left.

"I couldn't find her. Her doctor was concerned, said that she had experienced a lot of bleeding and that travel could be deadly to the baby. I finally tracked her down at a retreat in Greece, and she told me that she'd lost the baby. I cried for hours."

Lucas reached a hand out and wrapped his fingers around her own. He'd not been expecting this when he'd pushed. He felt like a churl for being so demanding with Brooke, was touched at how hard Rachel took it all, awed at how she stood behind her friend. But mostly, he was angry. He felt like he was ready to explode. He wanted nothing more than to turn the plane around and find this Miles character, beat him into a bloody pulp and make him unrecognizable to his own mother. He didn't deserve to breathe the same air as his Pretty Girl.

"Brooke stayed away for a few more months. We spoke every now and then, and she would handle business from wherever it was she'd gone into hiding. She'd left the retreat in Greece when a reported showed up asking questions. About ten months later she finally returned, looking healthy and if not happy, at least not broken. I was amazed."

"That's Brooke for you, she's got more will power than all of us combined," Lucas added, shutting his mouth firmly when he received a glare from Rachel. He nodded sheepishly.

"She never really talked about it when she came back. Miles tried to show up one day and she called the cops on him, claiming trespass when he started shouting that he was her husband. They began this strange, twisted dance. She'd send him divorce papers, he'd send back a shredded mass of paper with a little note or something else disgustingly obtuse. She just kept drawing up more paperwork, and he'd keep finding ways to avoid it or dodge the situation all together.

"About a year ago he just stopped responding. He vanished, and Brooke was willing to take any respite she could get. Then a month later her credit card bill showed up and she found out where he'd gone. He had charged basically a trip around the lower half of the earth to her account, and she was livid.

"James and I helped her finagle her way into Miles bank accounts and she switched everything. Today was the first I've heard any mention of his name since we made him start drawing from his own money."

"James?"

"Her only confidant at work. He's one of the editors for her magazine division. She found him one day while he was snooping around her design area looking for the next scoop and they hit it off immediately. He is gay as gay can be, so don't go turning all caveman on me, please." Rachel rolled her eyes at the obvious sigh of relief Lucas breathed, and moved on.

"I'm surprised he showed up again, and I'm more than just a little bit curious as to why. But do you understand now why we had to leave, and why I wanted to wait until we were off the ground?"

Lucas paused a moment to consider all that he'd just been told. This was most definitely _not_ what he'd been expecting.

"I understand why you wanted to wait, although that's not to say I won't turn around and hop on a plane right back to California once we land. But I don't understand why we had to leave. What does our presence have to do with Miles and him being at the office?"

Honestly, Rachel wasn't all that sure herself. It wasn't something she'd taken the time to ponder, what with all the other fucked up shit Miles had done being reason enough to listen to whatever Brooke requested.

She just shrugged her slender shoulders in response and returned to sipping on her drink. Lucas shifted in his seat and looked out the window, seeing the dimples of Brooke's smile in the clouds, and wishing the blue of the sky was instead a speckled green.

-

"Oh god!" Brooke shot up out of her seat, nearly tipping over the beer that had been resting perilously close to the edge.

James snapped up in his own chair, choking slightly on the sip he'd just taken.

"What?!"

"The pictures! He must have seen the pictures! Why else would he be back in town?! Why now?"

"Pictures? What pictures B?"

"Of me and Lucas. When we kissed. How'd he see them though?"

"Huh? What? You've gotta slow down and backtrack here sweetheart, I'm not following," James said, slurring only a little bit. This was, what, his…fifth? No wait. Sixth. No, that still didn't sound right. Damnit, what beer was he on?!

"Oh come _on_ James! You're not that drunk! Think about it!" Brooke was pacing back and forth from the windows to the couch in the corner. This _had_ to be it.

"Excuse me for not being as good a drunk as you Miss High and Mighty, but you're going to have to share with the class if you want a decent conversation right now," he snipped back.

"The pictures have to be why he's back in town. Evidence that I've cheated, grounds for him to file for a portion of my estate, property, whatever the hell they call it. He must have seen the pictures!"

James scoffed. "Impossible. The only ones who've seen the pictures are the closest in the whole damn company to you. They'd never let Miles get his grubby mitts on them."

"You think?"

"Definitely."

"Either way, those pictures can't go to print. I know that the magazine wanted the spread, and they can put others in, but anything even remotely tied to the fucking kiss have to be…well, not destroyed. But at least pulled for my private file only."

Brooke was devastated. She cherished those moments with Lucas, with Rachel, laughing it up and having a good time. One of the only shoots she'd actually enjoyed and he had to ruin it.

"God!" Brooke threw her hands up and very nearly screamed. As it was, she threw herself into the couch and smashed a pillow over her face.

James sat in his chair and watched as one of his closest friends fell apart. He'd been there for the shoot, nearly all of her best friends had been alerted. Those who couldn't make it grilled the attendees for every minute detail.

Sighing, he reached for the phone on her desk and dialed Jacques.

Brooke was vaguely aware of the whispered conversation as James handled the situation. She knew she could trust him to take care of things, ensure that the pictures of their one moment didn't go to print, that all public files were destroyed. Sometimes being a big name came with some pretty nice perks. Perks that she devoutly wished she hadn't needed to use.

A tear spilled from her eye to be soaked up by the pillow she still clutched to her head.

Why? What had she done to deserve this? What had _Lucas_ done? Nothing. That was the answer. Abso-fucking-lutely nothing.

Miles was the one great mistake in her life, the one thing she wished she could have taken back, above and beyond all others. And now? Now another one of her few precious moments was being ripped away, torn from her heart and her memory to be turned into a twisted shell of what it should have been.

This time, she did scream. Hard and loud and broken. She poured the last four years' worth of heartache and loneliness and anger into that one soul-shaking battle cry.

James was floored. He had never heard such a tortured sound come from the tiny form huddled on the couch.

"Brooke," he whispered, tentatively walking toward her.

Her body shook with sobs, but what she was crying for, she couldn't place. When a hand reached out and grazed her knee she very nearly leapt clear out of her skin.

Then James was there, wrapping her up in his arms, a soothing hand rubbing circles on her lower back, rocking her back and forth and she let go of all the emotions swirling inside of her.

"Hush sweetheart. He's not worth this," James began. And he was right. Miles wasn't. But Lucas…

Brooke gulped hard. A few more sobs wracked her frame before she pulled herself together. Wiping a stray tear from her cheek, she stayed huddled in the embrace of her friend.

"You're right, you know. _He_ isn't. I've let him have his way for too long. I'm better than this. I'm stronger than this," she said softly, the last three years of frustration flashing before her eyes.

"You are stronger than this," James confirmed. Brooke was the strongest woman he'd ever met. If he wasn't so securely bound to his boyfriend of the past five years she might have turned him straight. As it was, there had been a rough patch two years ago where he'd made the dumb mistake of kissing her and very nearly ruining their friendship. He'd be forever grateful to her for allowing him to move forward.

"Miles needs to let go. I need him to let go. And if he wont do it voluntarily, well then, I'm done playing nice. He's ruined the last…memory for me. There's too many good things coming back into my life, I won't let him be a shadow hovering on the edge of my life anymore," she said firmly. Her voice gained strength as she settled in her mind the one thing that she'd been toying with, shying away from, for far too long.

"That's my girl," James said, a proud grin tugging at his lips. Things were about to get very, very interesting, of that he was certain.

-

"Hey Rach?"

The plane ride had pretty much passed in silence since Rachel had shared Brooke's big secret. Neither had been real keen on the idea of striking up a conversation. Anything else seemed…piddling compared to the seriousness of their last one.

"Yeah Luke?"

"You said Brooke was pregnant…what…four, five years ago?"

Rachel nodded.

"So that would have made her baby, I guess, three or four now?"

She nodded again. Lucas grunted something, and turned back to the window. Flashes of chocolate curls, faint dimples, sparkling green eyes ran through his head. He nearly gasped as he finally placed why his newest little sister seemed so familiar to him.

-

The ringing of her cell phone dragged Brooke from the stupor of sleep she'd finally fallen into. Her day had been long and hard, spent arguing with the editor of the magazine as they hashed out the new layout for the spread, and marshalling her troops for the coming war with Miles.

"Hello?" Her voice rasped into the phone.

"Brooke? It's Rachel. You have to come to New York, NOW" came back at her.

The sheer panic in the normally self assured red head's voice snapped Brooke straight up in bed, all traces of sleepiness gone.

"What happened? What's wrong?"

"It's Lucas. He's been…off, since I told him about Miles and now I can't get through to him. He's shut down Brooke, something's wrong and he wont let me in enough to help," Rachel very nearly sobbed over the phone.

Sure, Lucas had been down and out when she'd ran into him, and she'd pulled him out of a number of funks over the last twelve months or so, but this was different. She was scared.

"How? It's only been a couple of days!"

"I don't know, but you need to get here, fast. I need you, he needs you. Please Brooke!"

"Alright, stay with him. I'm on the next flight out," Brooke replied, snapping her phone shut after Rachel sighed in relief and agreed to do what she could. Brooke jumped out of bed, threw a bag together and was out the door in twenty minutes flat.

"Hang on Broody, I'm coming."


	9. The Camel's Back

**AN: Okay, so you people officially rock the caspah. I mean, seriously. I got the most reviews ever for the last chapter, and I'm stoked. Floating on cloud nine, doing my happy dance, the whole kit-n-kaboodle. Thank you so much to everyone who left a review for my last chapter, it ranks up there at the top for my top favorite posts. I know I promised certain things in this chapter, but well…I got to typing, the words got away from me, and it just sorta…kept going. So, I cut it off here, and will post again for the next chapter probably tomorrow. Never fear though, I've already got most of it written, I just gotta wrap up the ending of the chapter so it sets me up nicely for my next installment. Let me know how you guys feel about this one, okay? Muah! Z**

The frantic pounding at the door normally would have annoyed Rachel to no end. This time however, she was nothing but relieved, her entire body sagging as the tension slipped from her body with the knowledge that the one woman who could fix whatever the hell had blown up was on the other side.

Her three inch stilettos clicking on the linoleum flooring, the woman hurried her way to the door, threw the dead bolt, and snapped the door open.

"Brooke! Thank god!"

"What the hell happened Rach?" Not even waiting for an invite, the worried brunette stormed her way inside, dropping her overnight bag and messenger bag on the table in the front hallway.

"I don't know! One minute we're getting drinks in the bar, the next he's on the dance floor with- well he's on the dance floor and then I'm bailing his ass out of trouble when the bouncer just bounces him right out the door!" Rachel was wailing, wringing her hands together in frustration and concern.

"I brought him home last night. I tried to talk to him, but he just, I don't know, shut me out I guess. It was like I stopped existing. He started mumbling, and then he got up, didn't even look at me, and shut himself away in his room. I've been trying to get through to him for the past day and nothing I do is working. He's gone without being gone, and I'm freaked!"

Sure, she'd done her fair share of rescuing for Lucas, but this…this was extreme. This was beyond what she felt capable of handling. Never had Lucas been _this_ far gone before.

Brooke took a deep breath and dropped her jacket on the back of the leather sofa in the living room. This was so not how she'd pictured seeing Lucas' pad for the first time. He was supposed to be by her side, arm wrapped securely around her waist, regaling her with tales of how he'd taken over the town, right before he kissed her senseless and dragged her to his bedroom.

Okay, so maybe she was over exaggerating just a teeny bit, but still!

"Where is he now?"

Rachel nodded her head in the direction of the one closed door down the side hallway, and Brooke sighed in response. He would hole himself up in a room somewhere. Running a slender hand through her brown locks, Brooke stopped and marshaled her thoughts.

"Okay Rach, I'll handle this. Why don't you go home and take a shower? Get some rest. You look like shit," she teased, a gentle smile on her lips.

Rachel laughed, nearly breaking down into tears as the safe feeling washed over her body. Brooke was here. She'd fix things. Lucas would be okay. She'd done right by calling Brooke.

"Gee thanks, bitch," Rachel joked back, joining in the easy banter as a way to mask her true panic.

"Any time. You know I call em as I see em."

Rachel snorted.

"Seriously though, you did right calling me. And you stayed with him, which is more than some others might have done. You need your rest too now. Go home, I'll call you when I know something," Brooke reached a hand out and rubbed her friend's arm slowly.

The other woman nodded her head minutely, and gathered up her stuff. They headed toward the front door, Brooke wrapping a comforting arm around Rachel's tiny shoulders.

"You sure you'll be okay by yourself? You don't want me to come back or anything?"

"Nah, I got it. Thanks though. You go home and soak in a hot bath, eat some cake. Okay?"

Nodding once more, Rachel sniffed hard, her emotions finally starting to spill over as the thin veil of control she'd managed to cling to finally slipped. Brooke pulled her into a fierce hug.

"You've done amazing Rach, you're one of the strongest women I know," she whispered encouragingly into her ear. "He'll be fine, I promise. I'll return your author to you only slightly worse the wear. And only then because he freaked out my best girl."

Rachel laughed lightly at this, and pulled back, gratitude sparkling in her eyes. A small smile tugged at her lips, and Rachel sighed heavily. Brooke ducked down to catch her gaze, and nodded firmly. Rachel did the same, shook off her fear, straightened her shoulders, and headed out the door.

Finally alone in the flat, Brooke took a moment to more closely examine the décor. It was spacious, a bachelor pad if she'd ever seen one, but still…cozy feeling. Warm. Comforting. The sunlight that had finally come with the dawn filtered through the curtained windows. She'd tried to catch up on her sleep during the red eye she'd taken, but she didn't feel very rested. The day was going to be long, of that she was certain.

She could see bits and pieces that just screamed Karen, a couple odd touches that had to have come from Rachel for they were far too trendy to have caught Lucas' eye. And here and there, remnants of their past lives in Tree Hill.

A picture of Brooke and Lucas on the mantle. Nathan and Haley and a tiny James on the kitchen counter. Karen and Lily sat on the side table next to the sofa. A group shot of the guys from the River Court on the desk by the far wall. Nathan and Lucas with Whitey on the fridge. Small mementos of a life long gone.

The one face missing that she'd thought sure to see almost broke her heart. There were no pictures of a curly blonde with long legs and a killer smile, and Brooke wasn't sure if she was happy or sad over the clear dismissal Lucas had made of her from his life. She'd been such a huge player in their relationship for so long. Shit, she'd given him up for Peyton. To see that all the pain and heartache she'd gone through, the sacrifices she'd made, resulted in a supposed banishment…well, it hurt.

Slipping out of her heels, Brooke pulled her hair back and rolled up her sleeves. Padding softly down the hallway toward the closed door, Brooke breathed deep, and prepared herself. She reached out and rapped her knuckles softly against the wood.

"Lucas?"

No answer. Not even a mumble.

"Lucas? It's Brooke." Well duh, Brooke. Like he wouldn't be able to place your voice. She felt dumb.

Still no answer.

She didn't bother knocking or calling out again. Testing the handle, she found it unlocked. Sending a silent prayer to whatever entities were watching, she pushed gently and sucked in her next breath sharply.

The room was shrouded in darkness. Lucas must have pulled the blinds closed tight. Clothes were strewn everywhere, the bed destroyed, pillows haphazardly scattered across the floor. He was no where to be seen, and Brooke had trepidations about stepping further than the doorway. There was no telling what her feet would come in contact with.

The digital clock on the dresser provided the only light in the room, the harsh red leds flickering in the utter black. Brooke shuddered.

Reversing from the door, she looked along the hallway for a light switch that would provide her enough light to see without possibly blinding the room's occupant.

"Ah ha!" She murmured softly, thumbing the switch. She was rewarded with exactly what she'd needed. Just enough light to see. However, thirty seconds of looking around had Brooke seriously considering if maybe it wouldn't be smarter to leave the damn light off and take her chances.

"Oh Broody," she sighed. Pushing the door all the way open, she gingerly stepped forward.

A grunt from the other side of the bed snapped Brooke's attention to that region. Relief coursed through her as she found the blonde sitting, his back to the wall, knees bent with his arms draped.

"I've sent Rachel home, Lucas. She was tired, needed some rest. She called me, you know?" She was fully aware she was talking more to hear the sound of a voice in the lonely echo of the cold room than in any attempt to garner a response from the person against the wall, but it didn't stop her.

"What happened Broody? Will you talk to me?"

She stepped around the bed, reaching down and chucking a couple pillows onto the bed, twitching the comforter back up and off the floor. With a bare foot she nudged some clothes into a pile, creating a path between the door and the bed, then around to Lucas' spot.

Dropping to her knees, she folded her hands into her lap, knowing better than to try and touch Lucas before he was ready. He'd been this inconsolable once before, when Keith had died, and it had taken her a long time to figure out how to break through the walls he'd built then. She'd learned her lesson wisely.

"I'm here, Luke. Whatever it is, I'm here," she rasped, eyes drinking in the sight before her.

His clothes were rumpled, his hair messier than normal. It almost looked greasy. He must not have had a shower in a few days. All of this though, the petite woman could handle. She could fix that. _That_ was easy. His eyes though…

Where once deep sapphires sparkled and twinkled with life, now she saw only lifeless dull orbs, all the fire gone. Banked, if not completely extinguished. Brooke was terrified.

"Lucas? Talk to me?" She scooted just that tiny bit closer, fighting the urge to reach out and place a warm hand on his bared arm, just to make sure there was still warmth to his own skin. Brooke eyed him again.

His eyes focused on a spot just above her head and to the left, a blank empty stare that did nothing for reinforcing the belief that he was still a human. He was motionless, only the tell tale movement of his chest rising and falling as he breathed indicating his presence still in the physical world. Every now and then a muscle in his jaw would twitch.

He looked so…closed off. Almost as if he'd withdrawn himself, something having been too painful for him to risk dealing with it. It had been easier to run and hide than face what the dawn, what the light of day, would bring.

"Oh Lucas," she whispered, her own shoulders slumping in sympathy. She'd been there. Wherever he was, right then and there. Brooke had mirrored that very same expression, she'd felt the intense desire to bury her head in the sand, to run away. The only thing that had pulled her out of it…well, she wouldn't think of that right now.

"Some days, it feels like the only way it'll stop hurting is if you avoid it. Act like it's not there," she began. "But it's not true. It only makes it worse." Maybe, if she talked, just said whatever, he'd snap out of it. If she shared what she'd gone through, he'd fight his way back.

"I want to help you Luke. We've only just found each other again, I don't want to lose you already," she confessed, a single tear sliding down her soft cheek.

The fingers of his right hand moved, ever so slightly, and a wallet sized picture slipped to their tips.

"Who is she," was all he said.

Piqued, Brooke reached out and tugged the image from his limp hand. And very nearly dropped it. Very nearly ran herself.

Looking back up at her, the glossy covering adding that mischievous glint to her green eyes, was a little girl, with soft brown hair and her smile.

Oh god.

When Brooke finally looked up, she was startled to see his intense blue eyes focused on her.

"Who is she, Brooke," he reiterated.

"Um, uh,"

"She's your daughter, isn't she?" His tone was so cold. So…distant. Could he be mad at _her?_

Brooke gulped and nodded, too afraid to acknowledge out loud the relationship.

Lucas sighed, and banged his head against the wall.

"Why?"

"Why?" Brooke was confused. Not that it wasn't a valid question, it was just very generic.

"Why my mom? Does she know?"

Brooke was stunned. He was mad at her. He was hurt, and angry, and…disappointed? What? 

"God Brooke! Why!"

The snap in his voice startled Brooke enough to make her flop backwards on her ass. Her eyes were wide as quarters, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. This was _not_ what she'd come here prepared for.

"She's my little sister! I've thought of her as my little sister for four years! Four!"

"Lucas I-"

"Does Lily know? Does that little girl know you're her mom? Were you ever going to tell me you had a _fucking husband?!"_ he hissed. His eyes had narrowed, his jaw clenched. His fingers curled into fists. A small part of Brooke registered that at least he wasn't lifeless anymore. Mostly though she was shocked at how quickly he'd gone from nearly comatose to enraged.

Everything about Lucas screamed hurt and betrayal and anger. How Rachel's story had gotten so twisted in his mind would forever be a mystery to Brooke. But the pure disgust that clouded the eyes she'd once thought she could lose herself in for all eternity was enough to bring her to her senses.

Sliding back away from him, Brooke scrambled to her feet and huffed.

"_Excuse me?_ Where do you get off?" 

"Oh that's rich Brooke. Try and slough this off, just like you did your baby-"

"Don't you _dare_ Lucas. Don't you even _think_ about finishing that sentence," she spat, her voice breaking with the effort to contain the tears that sprung to her eyes.

"Then tell me why!"

"I don't owe you a damn thing!"

"Yes, I think you do Brooke. You owed me a lot of things as soon as you involved _my_ mother."

"Do you even remember what your mother did for me? What Karen has always meant to me, for me? Why do you THINK I sent Chloe to Karen?" Brooke fought for calm. She needed to keep her head. Two hot tempers right now would not be conducive to solving anything.

Lucas grunted. "Did you tell her to keep it from me?"

"I asked Karen to act like my baby was her own, to feign ignorance, yes. It was safer. I had to."

"So, what? You were just going to let my mom keep on cleaning up your mistakes while you lived the high life?"

"That's really cold Lucas. That's a shitty thing to say, and you know it." She almost preferred the catatonic Lucas to this…viciousness.

"Well it's the truth, isn't it?" Somewhere inside his head his brain was registering that these things he was saying, the track he was following, wasn't the best idea. But he was too far gone to check himself.

"You know what?" Brooke's eyes narrowed, snapping dangerously. "I don't need this. I came here for you, thinking you needed me. I wont stand here and let you attack me for something you know nothing about." She turned and followed the path she'd created back into the hallway.

He jumped up off the floor and strode after her. Within a couple steps he'd reached her side, gripping her wrist and spinning her to face him.

"Oh no you don't. You don't get off that easily. Whose fault is it that I don't know anything about this, hmm?"

"What are you saying Luke?"

"She should have been mine!"

Brooke gasped. She most definitely hadn't seen _that_ one coming.

"How? If I remember correctly, you ditched me to follow your fellow blonde into happily ever after," she snapped.

"Don't Brooke. You're the one who pushed me toward her," he knew that wasn't entirely true, but shit, they were arguing.

"Ha! Yeah and I had to push _real_ hard, didn't I Lucas? I literally had to shove you, didn't I?" Was he really going to go there? 

"That's not the point! You're the one who walked away from me, Brooke. _You_ left."

"I'm not going back down this road. I refuse to. I've already been there, done that."

"Is that how you view us?"

"What else am I supposed to do? Did you think I'd just wait, forever? That I wouldn't move on?"

"Of course not! But…god! A husband? A kid? What the hell?!"

"I was hurting Lucas! I'd just given up the one boy I'd most likely ever be able to love for the sake of his and my best friend's happiness, and I still lost you both! I needed something, someone." Brooke was fidgeting, desperate to get away from the close proximity to Lucas that he firmly held her in. She didn't want to be this close to him.

"I get that, I do. But why him? Why this Miles asshole?" Luke was still mad, but at least he was…reactive now. The last twenty four hours or so had been very…scary.

"He wasn't like that in the beginning. He was…everything I needed to get over you, or so I thought. Fuck, it was a mistake, I _know_ that! You don't need to rub it in my face!"

"Why didn't you tell any of us? We could have helped you." He let go of her arm, allowing her to step back.

"Who? You? Yeah, that would have gone over re-eee-al well with Peyton. Oh, maybe Peyton. Gee, let's see, she pretty much forgot all about me once we got to California. Nathan and Haley were dealing with their own baby, Rachel was too young and immature, and the rest of the boys had never been as close to me as they had been with you and Hales. Who's left?"

Lucas sighed, and ran a hand through his hair.

"I would have helped you Brooke," he said quietly, eyes closed.

"No, you wouldn't. When all this went down you were so wrapped up in your relationship with Peyton that you hardly saw anything past the end of your nose. If I had called, you would have felt sorry, sure, but you wouldn't have come. Peyton wouldn't have let you."

"You don't know that," he replied feebly. She was right, they both knew it. But he wasn't going to admit it so freely.

"It doesn't matter any more Lucas. It's over. It's done."

"Over? It's far from over Brooke. You're married! Does that little girl even know who you are? Does Lily?"

"Dammit Luke! I KNOW I'm married, okay? You don't have to keep reminding me. I fight against it every day, I wake up each morning hoping with every fiber of my being that it was all a nasty nightmare, that it's not real. All except for Chloe. And yes, she does know who I am, and no, Lily does not know who she is." She was tired. Arguing about sensitive subjects like these always left her drained and exhausted.

"Have you even seen her?"

"Have you?"

"I'm not her father."

"No, I think you've made that _quite_ clear, thank you very much asshole," Brooke muttered darkly. She spun on her bare heel and marched herself into the kitchen, slamming cabinets as she searched for coffee. If they were going to fight, she wanted to be awake, in full control of all her mental faculties.

"Damnit, that's not what I meant! How am I supposed to look at Chloe now? _Knowing_ that she's your daughter, that she's not mine? How am I supposed to care for her now?"

"I didn't ask you to care for her! She's not your responsibility, I'm not asking you do to do a fucking thing for her!"

"Stop being so stupid Brooke. I WANT to be her father."

"Yeah, well, that's not your decision." Brooke turned away from the pain that flashed in his eyes, swearing she wasn't going to cave. Chloe deserved a stable life, something Karen could give her, and she wasn't about to upend it all just because Lucas felt the need to play house.

"You didn't answer the question."

"I haven't gone up to her directly, no. But I've kept tabs. I've talked to her a couple times on the phone, Karen's video taped all the big stuff, god I've got tons and tons of memorabilia stored away for when I can finally bring it all out in the open," she replied, rubbing tiredly at her eyes. Screw her makeup.

"I can't believe you've let your daughter's life just slip through your fingers," he accused.

"Lucas, you need to get off the fucking high horse. You can't believe me? What about you? When was the last time _you_ went home? Saw Karen or Lily? How about James? Our godson?" She was done being attacked.

"That's not the point," he started.

"Like hell it isn't! You're jumping down _my_ throat accusing me of all sorts of shit, like you're the perfect son and big brother and uncle! You've got NO room to talk."

"Well at least I didn't give up my kid!"

"Fuck you! You think that was easy for me?!" Hazel eyes filled with tears, and Brooke cursed silently. She _wasn't_ going to cry. She refused to cry.

"Well then why don't you explain it all to me, hmm? If I'm so far off the mark, why don't you enlighten me?" The deep voice dripped with derision.

"Like I said before Lucas, I don't owe you a damn thing."

They squared off, staring each other down. Brooke was truly pissed off. He had _no_ right to make accusations, to assume he just knew what was going on, that he was due any answers. She'd come here, at the drop of a fucking hat, to help _him_ and he was jumping on her.

Lucas sighed and scrubbed at his face. He really didn't want to fight with Brooke. He didn't. But this was just too much.

"What are we doing here?"

Lucas' head snapped up. No. He wasn't going to let her do this.

"Don't run away from this Brooke. Not from me."

"Do you see the damn door open? That's not what I asked. What I asked-"

"I know what the damn question is!"

"What is your _issue_ Lucas?!"

"I want to know why! Christ!" He was yelling again. Talk about a cluster fuck.

"You want to know why? Fine! I'll tell you why!" Brooke half screamed in frustration. She wasn't anywhere near ready for this. But if it was what it took to get through to him, to snap him out of this funk, then fine. He could deal with the fucked up circumstances of her life.

"I had to give Chloe away. If Miles knew she existed, then he'd try and take her from me. He'd do whatever it took to rip the only good thing that's come of my fucked up personal life in the past six years. I've talked to a handful of different lawyers about it, and they all tell me the exact same thing: a child complicates things.

"If I want this divorce – hell yes I want this divorce – then I have to stay away. I have to act like she doesn't exist. It's just until I'm finally free of the jerkwad, but all the same, it hurts."

"Brooke stop-"

"Shut up. You wanted to know why, so listen up. I have to stay away, because it's what's safest for Chloe. You think it doesn't break my heart that I've missed her first step, her first word? That she calls another woman mom, even if it is Karen? I cry myself to sleep more often than not because I'm so consumed with guilt it's fucking impossible to breathe. My baby girl is on the other side of the country, waking up and living a life that I know nothing of."

Brooke had to stop. Tears streamed down her face, her arms wrapped around her midriff. She was huddled in on herself. Lucas reached out to touch her face, and she backed up.

"No Lucas. You don't get to play the big strong boyfriend now."

"Please Pretty Girl, I'm sorry. You're right, I shouldn't have pushed," he tried to fix it, to mend the heart he'd made her break all over again.

She just shook her head. A hiccup wracked her tiny frame.

"I'm terrified of what to do next. I'm scared to death of what will happen once I get the divorce. Part of me wants to bring her home, but I don't think I can give her the life she deserves. With Karen, she has stability, siblings, the small town environment that I miss so badly. What will I be able to give her? Nothing. I'm actually taking her father _away_ from her."

"You've got to stop this. She's your daughter, you love her. She belongs with you," Lucas soothed. "Let me be her dad, Brooke, let me be there for you both," he nearly begged.

"No! I don't want your pity or your sympathy Lucas!"

It was all too much. The walls suddenly seemed like they were closing in on her, the air was non-existent, her chest ached with the heartache and fear she'd kept bottled up for so long. She had needed a safe harbor with Lucas, had needed his strength. Instead, he'd pushed. Hard.

"This is wrong Luke. We're two different people now. I thought-"

"Stop. Don't go there Brooke. Please." His voice turned cold. She was pushing him away. Again. Granted, there was more justification this time around, but still. She didn't want him.

"Are you happy now? Did I answer your questions? Did I fulfill my obligations to you?" Brooke narrowed her eyes, her mouth drawn in a thin line. You could cut the sarcasm in her words with a butter knife. She tossed aside the shattered pieces of her heart, opted for the anger instead. It was a better emotion to fuel herself with than the pain. The pain only led to shadows and echoes of reality.

"Don't get pissed off at me Davis. I'm trying to help you, I'm offering everything you're afraid of, and you're the one pushing me away. Again. Are we going to play this game forever?"

"For the record, no, she doesn't know who I am. I don't want her pining after a mother she can't have, at least not right now. And I don't need her accidentally spilling the secret and opening herself up for trouble. The only one who does, is Karen. And now you. I swear to god Lucas, if you screw this up for me, if you jeopardize this, I'll kill you," she spat, meaning every damn word. She would not let a guy threaten her daughter's chances at a good life. If it meant she stayed celibate, then so be it.

"I wouldn't do that, and you know it. Not even Rachel knows. Shit, she still thinks you had the miscarriage!"

The memory of the fear and panic she'd gone through those last few months made Brooke go weak in the knees. She gripped the counter hard to keep herself upright.

Lucas saw it though. He recognized the agony. He'd gone through it a couple times for real himself. He had to try one more time to get Brooke to see reason.

"Please, Pretty Girl. Let me in. Let me help." The irony of those words was not lost on him. But it was what was needed.

She huffed. She'd had enough. By now, she'd managed to finagle the counter between them, and she just happened to be closer to the front door.

Lucas saw the shift in her demeanor, how her eyes flickered to the door, then her purse and bags. She was going to run. And there was nothing he could do to stop her.

"Go ahead Brooke. Leave. It's what you do best." He waved his hand in the general direction of the door. His reward was a flash of pain as her face paled.

Not even deigning to answer him, she spun on her heel, gathered up her things and was out the door, her purse swinging in the air behind her. The only thing left of his Cheery was the scent of her perfume as it wafted back to him on the breeze from the shut door. He crumpled back to the floor, his head back, knees bent, eyes blank.

-

Brooke hopped the first flight back to California that she could get. There was nothing keeping her there in New York, not when Lucas was being that much of an ass hole. But there were things back home that were waiting for her, things that needed to be finished. This was the last straw. No more. Her camel was officially broken.


	10. JailSeriously

**AN: Okay, I swear I haven't forgotten about this or either of my other two stories. I promise. My life has just taken a turn that I wasn't expecting and my time on the computer has drastically lessened. I am, however, plugging faithfully away at updates and hope to not go more than two weeks between updates. Just no guarantees on which story'll get it when :D**

**I want to take a couple lines though and say…WOW and THANK YOU to everyone who has reviewed this story. I have gotten the highest count of reviews of all time with this story and the last two chapters. I was floored and truly touched that they were received so warmly.**

**To: **azmar, brucas224, IamCaroline, tigger167, sarah, 23KT23, BRUCAS 2007, whiters, brookenlucas4eva03, onetreehillgirl066, BDavis427, missdenmark, Salma, Brucas2006, bella, broodyprettygirl, flipflopgal, Kelly-Starfly, Simoman, queen08, BRUCAS123, beepersheartsbrucas, and SV, **thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a review for the last two chapters. It absolutely made my day, and made everything perfect for me. **

**Lynn** (justlikebrooke),** I'm glad I was able to restore your faith. I look forward to your reviews like none other for you always have such expressive things to say. Allie (**othfan326**) I'm loving your reviews and are so incredibly thrilled that you're following the story. I promise I haven't given up on Need. **

**Sorry folks for the long AN but it's been a long while since I posted an update and I don't think I did one on my last chapter, so I had some catching up to do. I struggled with this chapter which is why it took me so long to post (I honestly did have a majority of it written, just wasn't happy with it) so bear with me. I'd love it if y'all left me a little note telling me if I did alright. Either way, enjoy, and thanks for taking the time to read! XO, Z**

**-**

Miles was drunk. Shit faced, falling down, slurring, plastered. And it wasn't even dark yet.

His bitch of a wife had the power to ruin him, to take everything that he'd worked so hard for and flush it down the toilet. As it stood his financial standings were severely depleted thanks to her conniving ways.

He stumbled into the next bar, not really caring where he was, or what time it was. He needed the oblivion only a good bar hopping could bring him. The fact that he'd flown to New York, it being the biggest city as far away from Brooke as possible that he could think up, indicated just how _badly_ he was reeling from it all.

When he'd first seen the fiery brunette he'd been entranced. She was such a bright presence in his dull, boring life that he'd been hooked at first glance. He was drawn to her, desperate for anything to lift the black curtain that had fallen on his shoulders.

He cussed softly. He'd never meant to turn into the person he'd become, but her refusal to marry him made him desperate. He couldn't lose her, she was the only reason he'd survived. If only she knew of the times he'd brought the barrel of daddy's gun to his temple. If only she knew of the numerous cuts that lay hidden beneath the arm guard he didn't even take off to shower.

The loss of his baby, that shattered him. When she ran away, he'd been so scared. When his firecracker threw in his face the death of the only good thing he'd ever managed to do Miles was lost. Officially floating on the dark seas, waves cresting higher and higher as the storm over took him. He was floundering.

The arrival of the first set of divorce papers almost killed him. He had to physically drag himself out of bed after three days of no food or water, not really caring if he lived or died.

Somehow, without his knowledge, the desolation was transformed into the game he'd been playing for the last four years. He became a shell of the man he'd once been, lost all sight of the man he'd hoped to become, with Brooke by his side. He was twisted, a horrible monster that not even he wanted to admit existed. He did the only thing he knew how to do: he turned nasty. A slow progression that took him from the guy he was to the evil husband he is now. He hated it, but he couldn't stop it. Not any more. He didn't want to. Anything to bring the same kind of pain and heartache to Brooke that had been dumped on him for so many years.

"Bartender, wrack em up. And keep em coming," was the motto of the day. He slammed the first shot, taking fierce pleasure in the burn that traced its way down his throat. Oblivion was a very very good thing.

-

Brooke collapsed on her couch, thoroughly spent from the whirlwind she'd just experienced. Her emotions were everywhere. Just trying to think hurt. She sighed and rubbed her temples gently.

Her life was fast spiraling out of control, and the twenty-six year old had no idea how to stop it. Between the magazine upset at the last minute photo refusals, the design conflicts that had arisen in the last two days, Lucas pulling the stunts he'd pulled, Miles being in town – she frowned for a moment, at least she thought he was still in town – and her guilt over Chloe, all mixed in with the feelings she was battling over Lucas being back in her life in any capacity, Brooke was surprised she hadn't broken down and curled into a tight ball, rocking in her insanity.

A drink sounded really really good at that exact moment, but alcohol couldn't be her crutch. She had to find something else to calm her nerves.

An open window that she must have forgotten in her haste to leave allowed an ocean breeze to tease her hair, and she smiled. The sea. As always, her therapist, her tormentor, her forgiver.

Sliding out of her shoes, Brooke glided to the back door and stepped out onto the familiar deck, stretching in the warm sun as the waves crested and slammed against the shore. She stepped down into the sand, her toes reveling in the feel of the tiny grains underfoot, a mini massage with every step.

She approached the shore, standing just outside of the sea's long reach, listening to the sounds of the sea. A child's laughter floated on the updraft, a light tinkling sound that lifted her aching soul. A dog barking at a seagull resting on the edge of a rock, the squawking as it flew away and surveyed the land beneath its down swing.

These were the sounds she'd become accustomed to, that she'd grown up with over the past years. When Miles first left, she slipped into her suit and dove into the warm embrace of the sea, swimming out all her frustrations and anger. When she first had complications with her pregnancy, she'd stood as the water washed up against her tiny frame, begging and praying for the healthy birth of her child. In some ways, she felt akin to the sailors on the Dutchman…she'd bargained her soul to Davie Jones for the life of her baby.

Was this her penance now? Was she doomed to spend the rest of her life married to a man she despised, as she watched the man she loved wallow in a life he didn't want? There had to be something she could do, a task to complete that would free her from these unearthly binds.

The ringing of a phone brought her thoughts crashing back to reality. A couple hundred yards down the beach a woman answered a cell phone, her laughter echoing as she enjoyed the conversation.

Brooke deserved to be that person, didn't she? She should get the chance to make things right, to feel the love she so desperately craved.

"What do I have to do? What's next in this live I've chosen? Will you help me?"

For a split second the exhausted woman thought she might actually get an answer. Ironic laughter ripped from her throat as it sunk into her head that she was holding her breath for a mythical legend to solve her problems for her. That was rich.

"I'm screwed," she muttered.

-

Lucas needed to get out. He'd just made quite possibly the biggest mistake of his life, chasing away the one woman he knew he could love unconditionally, all because he was…shit, he didn't even know what he was.

"You idiot," he grumbled, smacking himself in the head. Pushing open the door to a bar around the corner from his apartment, he walked up to the bar and sat down at his usual stool.

"Hey Adam," he greeted the bartender when he nodded in his direction.

"Hey man, what's up? You're in here early," came the casual reply.

"It's been one of those days dude. I need a beer, and badly," Lucas said, his shoulders slumped in exhaustion and defeat.

A few moments later the precious amber liquid appeared in front of his nose in a frosted mug and Lucas sighed appreciatively. He wrapped his strong fingers around the handle and brought the lip to his mouth, relishing in the almost acrid tang as the cold drink slid down his throat.

Yes, this was exactly what he needed.

Polishing off half the mug in one draught, he took a minute to survey the bar, see who else was in there. A couple in the corner near the back were obviously there for privacy and peace as they necked in the booth. A couple of guys battled it out over the eight ball against the fall wall, and a group of women giggled as they watched. He almost smiled.

The only one person sitting at the bar was a man, dark haired, looking like death warmed over. And Lucas thought he'd been having a bad day.

Lucas gestured to Adam, who finished putting up a couple glasses before joining him.

"What's up man?"

"Who's the guy? Do we need to worry?"

"Who, him? Naw. He's so plastered he couldn't find his ass with two hands and a map. I cut him off about an hour ago, he's waiting until he sobers up enough to get me to give him more beer. Not gonna happen," Adam shrugged.

Lucas eyed the poor guy warily. After he'd had to help Adam clear out the bar a couple years back when some particularly rough guys thought they'd lay stake to the property, he'd pretty much taken on the role of bouncer when he was there. Which more often than not was daily, seeing as how he did like to eat, and they fed him.

A grunt from the other end drew his attention once again to the man, and he could tell he was talking to himself as he saw his mouth moving.

"Stupid…fucking marriage…damn bitch…haven't won…screw you Brooke," was about all he could catch, but it was enough.

_Brooke?_ No way. There wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that this guy could be talking about his Brooke. It just wasn't possible. For one, they were all the way across the country. For two, it was just too weird. Not even fate was _that_ sadistic.

"Hey man, why don't you go on home," Adam said sympathetically. He really did feel for the guy. It sounded like whoever this Brooke was had really worked him over, done one hell of a number on him.

"I have no home! Not anymore! That bitch took it from me!" The bartender's words unintentionally sparked the fire that was banking inside Miles, and it roared to life. "All I wanted to do was love her! And she screwed me!"

Lucas was intrigued. Despite himself, he was drawn to the drunken sod. There was something…disgusting, about the man.

"I asked her to marry me a dozen times! She kept saying no! She left me no other option!"

Adam tried to calm the guy down, tried to get him to quit yelling and just take a breather.

"And then she fucking lost it! The one thing that could have brought us closer, and she got careless! You know what I think?" The drunk was swaying, his finger swirling in the air as he tried to shove it in Adam's face.

Not waiting for an answer, he barreled on with his tirade.

"She _wanted_ to lose the baby. She hurt herself on _purpose_, she killed it," he sneered, spittle flying out of his mouth. Adam visibly stiffened, and Lucas gripped the counter top painfully. Whoever this guy was talking about, he obviously didn't know what he was saying.

"That _bitch_," he spat, "she killed our baby, and then tried to divorce me!" He laughed humorlessly, settling down somewhat now that he'd gotten the crux of his tangled web out in the open.

Lucas, for his part, sat stock still. There was just no way. But there was no way it wasn't, either. There were too many similarities, too many parts in the story where they matched up.

"Fucking Brooke Davis," the guy muttered darkly, his hands cradling the empty mug he'd refused to give up when Adam had denied him a refill.

Luke felt the anger consume him, eat him alive, burn up his insides until all that was left was a raging fire that left no room for rational thought or sane considerations. This just _had_ to be Miles, the evil husband, who held so much, who hurt Brooke so much. His fingers curled into an iron clad fist, his hand going white with the pressure.

"You need to leave," he said coldly, not wanting to cause a scene but not wanting to remain in the same breathing space as the asshole.

Adam looked up at the tone the normally kind blonde used, and was slightly shocked to see him so obviously pissed off. When the scoff and grunt of dismissal originated from the guy he'd honestly been eyeballing as a candidate for a stint behind bars, he became concerned. That probably wasn't the smartest move he could have made.

"I've already told you that you're cut off. Don't make me call the cops man," Adam chimed in. Lucas was no light weight. He could throw a punch or two, make the guy's life miserable. For that matter, he himself could scrap. The guy seriously didn't want to stay and cross them. He considered the blonde a friend, and if push came to shove, he'd back up his buddy.

"You two prissys don't know what you're talking about. Just leave me the fuck alone," Miles hissed back, refusing to lift his eyes. "She's a bitch, I'm pissed, and I'm not opposed to taking my frustrations with her out on your sorry asses."

"Don't talk about her that way," Lucas commanded.

Adam looked at Lucas strangely…he _knew_ the woman the jerk was whining about?!

"Or what?" Miles challenged.

"You really don't wanna find out," Lucas returned. His fists were starting to ache with the tension. His anger coiled inside him, begging to release in the form of his fist connecting with the dipshit's face.

Miles' mocking laughter was his response. "Whatever pretty boy."

Something in Lucas snapped and the anger coiled and ready to spring burst forward. Before he could even register the movement of his feet he felt the satisfying smack as he collided with Miles' face.

Miles staggered back, caught unawares by the punch, and stumbled into the stool behind him. He fell to the floor in a loud clatter and banged his head against the floor.

"Leave, _now_," Lucas repeated.

Shaking his head clear of the cobwebs connecting with the floor had brought on, Miles stood up, brushed off his jeans, and then launched himself at Lucas. He managed one good jab to the jaw before Lucas brought up his own arms to defend himself.

Cursing, Adam jumped the counter and tried to separate the men. The boys playing pool dropped their cue sticks in an effort to aid the bartender, but Lucas and Miles were too far gone.

Hell bent on killing each other, but for completely different reasons, Miles landed a knee in the stomach and a fist to the kidneys. Lucas, having a much stronger desire to see the scumbag in a hospital, had connected with Miles' face a few more times and had drawn blood.

One of the girls sitting at the tables picked up her cell phone and called the cops. Adam, hearing her on the phone, tried hard to break them up so he could get Lucas out of there, but luck wasn't on their side. What seemed like seconds but was probably a minute or so later the door to the bar burst open and two cops came barging in.

"Break it up!"

-

Rachel had gone home and done exactly what Brooke had told her to do. Stripped down, unplugged or turned everything off except her cell phone, and slipped into the hottest bubble bath she quite possibly had ever taken.

After soaking out the stress in her muscles Rachel snagged a thing of ice cream, her favorite plush pillow and blanket, and snuggled into the couch. The past two days had definitely justified some personal down time and a chance to unwind.

She still didn't know where it had all gone wrong. Sure, when they'd gotten off the plane she'd had to stamp down the panic that Lucas would actually get back on another plane and fly back to Brooke, but he'd seen reason and gone home instead. Then that night she'd gotten the phone call that maybe had started the ball rolling.

"_Hello?"_

"_Hey Rach…let's go out tonight."_

"_Luke?"_

"_Duh, who else were you expecting?"_

"_Very funny. We just got home Lucas! And you want to go back out again?"_

"_Hey what happened to the party girl huh? 'Always up for a drink, a dance, and a fuck?'"_

"_Oh that's still true, but there's a limit to what I'm willing to do when, you know." She really was tired. Rehashing all the drama with Brooke had left her feeling drained and empty._

"_Please, Rach. I don't want to stay inside. Not when I don't know what's going on with Brooke, if she's okay…I can't."_

_Rachel sighed._

"_Alright, meet me at Durango's in thirty."_

"_Sweet."_

That night, they'd gotten drunk. She snorted. Drunk was playing nice. They'd gotten down right smashed. One minute they'd been laughing and cutting up, the next minute Lucas had been smack in the middle of the dance floor, body glued to the curves of some bimbo that looked vaguely familiar.

They hadn't really talked much about Miles or the miscarriage, but she could tell he was bothered. She may not be the most perceptive of their little band of friends, but she knew well enough when things were spiraling out of control. Like right then for example.

When she saw the airhead tug on his arm in an effort to hijack her friend Rachel had put her foot down. No way was she going to let him go back down that road and end up loathing himself again. She had waltzed up to the pair, slipped her arms around his waist and given the blonde idiot the evil eye.

Just what exactly she'd said to chase the bottle blonde away Rachel didn't remember, but it had been effective, which is all she'd been aiming for. Lucas was angry for a little while, but Rachel stood her ground. Sure enough, less than thirty minutes later he'd shifted moods, was eternally grateful for being saved from what would undoubtedly have been a horrible mistake, and then turned dark and broody.

It was no surprise to Rachel when Lucas started turning in on himself. What _had_ caught her off guard was the sudden insistence on another round of shots, and then another, and another, before he up and disappeared again. It seemed magic was on his list of to do's for the night, and as far as she could tell, he was doing beautifully.

Unfortunately he'd decided to add getting in trouble with the bouncer to his list of accomplishments and she'd found him as he was being escorted out the back exit. The meathead who'd cuffed her friend and tossed him summarily into the alleyway wouldn't let her go with him, and she'd had to push her way through the crowd to the front door to leave.

After finally tracking him down, they'd gotten a cab and gone back to his apartment in hopes of possibly sleeping off whatever it was that had Lucas so…screwed up. It would have worked too, if he hadn't seen a billboard on the way home with her picture plastered all across the front, and then heard a commercial for an upcoming fashion show that would center around her clothing line.

By the time the cab had actually pulled up in front of his apartment he was gone. And there wasn't a damn thing Rachel could do about it. Didn't mean she wasn't going to try though. When each and every damn attempt to bring him out of his funk failed miserably, Rachel'd done the only thing she knew left to do. Called Brooke.

If only she had known that she'd be calling on the fierce brunette again.

-

The ringing of her phone hours later snapped Brooke out of the half conscious state she'd drifted off into on the beach.

Groaning, Brooke sat up and shook the sand from her hair, stretching the kinks out of her body. She fumbled for her cell, finally flipping it open with an exasperated greeting.

"What."

"_Brooke?"_

"Rachel?"

"_Hey listen…are you still in New York? Wait, that's a stupid question. Forget that. Can you come back?"_

"Huh? What's going on? You alright?" Brooke was confused. This was definitely one of the stranger conversations she'd had in the last seventy-two hours.

"_I'm fine, but, well, I could use your help."_

"My help? What for?"

"_You see, uhm…"_

"Spit it out bitch," Brooke urged, wanting to know what was going on.

"_Well, Luke's in jail."_

"WHAT?!"

"_Yeah, I know, same fucking reaction I had. It gets worse," Rachel added, the hesitation blatantly obvious in her voice._

"Worse? Do I even wanna know?" Brooke rubbed a hand across her forehead, her headache suddenly back with a vengeance. God she was so tired.

"_Miles is in there with him."_

Dead silence met that particular statement.

"_Brooke?"_

"I'll be there as soon as I can." The phone clicked shut, Brooke cussed up a storm, and Rachel sighed in relief.

"Damn you Miles," was Brooke's last thought.

-

Lucas nursed the shiner and gingerly moved his jaw, testing for soreness. The punk hit like a girl. He nearly laughed. Then it occurred to him that he was going to, at some point or another, have to explain why it was he was in jail with his ex girlfriend's soon to be ex husband, and the irony of it all hit him with a vengeance. Brooke was going to slaughter him.

Scowling in the corner, Miles glared darkly at the other inhabitants of the jail cell he was currently occupying. They'd separated him and the blonde asshole who'd taken a swing at him after they'd resumed the fight at the police station. If only they'd locked the sumbitch up in a completely different sector, but no, they'd just had to put them in neighboring lockups. He could see the blonde flexing his jaw, and all Miles wanted to do was reach through the bars and hit the other side. Fucking idiot.

Miles was pissed. He was still drunk, infuriated, and just itching for a fight. One word, one stray glance, and the next sorry s.o.b. to feel his wrath wouldn't get off as lightly as the first one had. He still didn't know who he was, or why he'd hit him. The only thing he registered was that somehow he knew Brooke. Which automatically landed him on Miles' shit list. Worthy of being pummeled into oblivion. If only the damn cops hadn't shown up.

Lucas, well, he wasn't sitting in the dark like Miles. He knew full well why he'd done what he did, who he did it too, and…okay, maybe he didn't know what the consequences would be, but he had hopes that it wouldn't be too bad. After all, he had warned the guy, and Adam had asked the guy to leave, Lucas had just been helping.

Right?

He swore quietly. He was in for it now.

-

Brooke hopped the first flight to New York – again – and hailed a cab to Rachel's place. When she banged on the door, she had no qualms about the volume of the sound she was making. If she was stuck in her own personal version of the Twilight Zone from hell then everyone else could suffer too.

Rachel threw open the door, purse and jacket in hand ready to take off. She didn't even stop to apologize to Brooke, or say thank you. She just grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hallway toward the elevators on the way to the parking lot. They needed to get to the station, and she really didn't want to be alone with Brooke's anger for too long. After all it wasn't her fault Brooke was angry, Lucas and Miles shared in that particular burden. And they could damn well share in the fall out.

The car ride to the precinct was silent. Brooke was inwardly fuming over the fact that she was back in New York coming to the rescue of one blonde brooding boy _again_ and this time he managed to tangle her up smack in the middle of it all. Rachel was quietly tossing scenario after scenario over in her mind trying to come up with one that wouldn't result in them all back behind bars, this time for attempted murder.

She'd yet to come up with a viable plan. To say she was worried would be an understatement.

Turning the corner, Rachel pulled into the parking lot and slid into the first available space. Brooke was out the door and half way up the steps before Rachel had even thrown the car into park.

"Brooke! Hang on!" Rachel shouted, hurrying to catch up with her friend on a mission. The morbid inner Rachel wanted to be there for every second of the show down about to happen. She even wished for a split second that she'd thought to bring a camcorder, this was going to be good.

Brooke didn't even hesitate in her stride. She wanted answers, she wanted them now, and only the two currently residing inside those stone walls could give them to her. Rachel would just have to hurry her skinny ass up.

Slamming her way through the front doors and up to the receiving desk, Brooke paused just long enough to catch the eye of one of the desk sergeants. Thankfully the station was one of the smaller ones, and she didn't have to go through myriad doors to find the person she'd need to speak with.

"Can I help you miss?" Eyeing her warily from behind the counter was an elder man in his forties, slightly graying hair completing the rumpled look he was sporting. If Brooke had taken a minute longer to observe the setting, she'd of realized he was probably nearing the end of his shift.

"Yes, I'm here for Lucas Scott and Miles Duncan. I was told they were being held here?" Brooke tried to calm herself down. The last thing she needed to do was piss off the officer behind the desk. Then they'd all be screwed.

"Scott and Duncan? What are they being held for?"

"Public intoxication and disturbing the peace," Rachel supplied, skidding up to the counter next to Brooke.

"One moment," the officer said, stepping away to search the registry for their names.

Brooke stood tapping her manicured nails gently on the counter, Rachel shifting anxiously from foot to foot next to her. Two seconds longer and Brooke was sure she was going to scream in frustration.

"Right, here they are. They're being held in two separate cells, we had to move one when they started fighting again. The bar's not pressing charges, and if they both agree to go their separate ways then we can release Scott tonight and Duncan in the morning after he sleeps off the PI. You know them?"

Rachel opened her mouth to answer but Brooke beat her to it.

"One's my husband and the other's my ex boyfriend. Do you think I could see them?"

The poor officer's eyebrows rose at the identification but he merely nodded in agreement. He'd seen and heard weirder, and a part of him felt sorry for the men in lock up. Yet another love triangle, two men who couldn't come to terms over one woman. Not that the slip of a woman in front of him wasn't worthy of a good bar brawl.

"Who do you want to see first?"

"Miles Duncan," Brooke stated, finally ready to put an end to all this shit. She was done playing.

Another officer lead Brooke to a holding area where it was indicated that she was to stay put. A few minutes later Miles shuffled into the room looking anywhere but at the woman standing defiant in front of him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" She hissed, not even waiting until the officer had backed off for privacy.

Miles just shrugged, not willing to acknowledge that he'd done a damn thing wrong. As far as he was concerned, the world was out to get him and he was just trying to survive. He almost snorted. Not even he could believe that blatant lie.

"I swear to god Miles, this is it. I'm done. You've ruined the very last thing for me, you've squandered away your last chance at staying within my good graces. You are going to refuse to press charges, you are going to hop the first flight back home, you are going to sign those damn papers and then you are going to disappear off the face of the fucking earth!" Brooke was nearly screaming by now, all the pent up anger she'd been simmering on finding its outlet in the form of the bowed shoulders and weary body before her.

"Brooke…"

"NO! I'm done Miles! If you don't do this, I'm going home and calling them. I'm calling your family, the investors, everyone, I'm opening up that little closet that holds all your skeletons, and I'm spilling all! I've kept your secrets for you for long enough! I'm tired!"

"You cant!"

"Watch me, Miles. Just watch me as I dial that phone and end it all. You think I don't know what everyone has told you? The stipulations they've put on the cushy life you've been living?"

"Brooke please don't," he begged.

"Oh its too late to plead. Any shot you had at appealing to my kinder side flew out the window when you got drunk and hit Lucas!"

"He hit me first!" Lucas? So that was his name? Miles filed away that little tidbit of information for later. She did know him…his interest in the stupid blonde climbed a couple notches.

"It doesn't matter! You still hit back!"

"What? That doesn't even make sense!"

"Miles, I'm not having this argument with you. Seriously. You're going to sleep off whatever hours the cops demand for the PI and you're going to decline pressing charges, then fly your sorry ass back home, and sign me back into freedom. If you don't, so help me god, I'll pick up my phone and call every single person that has any control over you and make your life a living, breathing, hell." Brooke's chest was heaving she was so riled up. But oh did it feel good to finally put all her thoughts into words.

Miles just stood there, watching as the woman he'd lost himself to threatened every aspect of his life, all to get away from him. Was he really that despicable? Something indefinable broke inside him and shattered into a million pieces. He stared back at her with blank eyes.

"Do you understand me?" Brooke hammered home the last nail in the coffin that was their failed marriage. She knew she was being a cold hearted bitch, but she was done playing games. She'd given him numerous chances to fix it. He'd stalled, now it was time to play hardball.

Miles nodded numbly and turned his back on the only thing that had kept him functioning on even a tiny level as he returned to the cell to await the morning.

Brooke inhaled deeply and let it out on a huge sigh. Her only hope was that Miles would get the picture this time, and stick to the plan. She didn't want to ruin him, bring him to his knees like that. She just wanted out. Damnit, she had a right to a life too!

And bingo, she was back to fuming.

"Easy Davis, calm down. Time to handle Lucas," she talked herself into a tentative peace, waiting for the officer to bring in her Broody next. Him, though, she was going to take home.

The door opened again, this time admitting the blonde one. It was like night and day, the difference between Miles and Lucas. He was sheepish beyond all recognition, and for a minute Brooke considered letting him off the hook. Then the evil glint in her eyes came back and Brooke stood her ground.

He was mumbling something as the guard stepped back and went to retrieve Lucas' personal effects. With Brooke vouching for him, and no one pressing charges, he was free to go. Not that he knew that. And Brooke had great intentions of keeping that particular piece of information away from him for a few moments. She wanted to play.

"So you wanna tell me what happened?"

"Not really," was the mumbled reply.

"That wasn't really an option. Try again."

"It doesn't matter."

"Like hell it doesn't Lucas! I don't have to bail your ass out of here! You really want to stay in jail?" Okay, so maybe this wasn't the direction she'd envisioned for this particular conversation.

"I didn't ask you to come here, Brooke. If you want answers, you're not going to get them from me. Why don't you go talk to your _precious_ husband," he nearly sneered. He was tired, depressed, and emotionally strung out. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Brooke and her mind games or demands.

"What?! Are you serious?" Brook scoffed. Crossing her arms, she waited for Lucas' better sense to kick in.

"Yes, Brooke, I'm serious. I don't need another mother, not that you'd know what that meant anyways." As soon as he'd said the words, he immediately regretted them. He would have given his life to take what he'd just said back.

Brooke paled. He didn't. He wouldn't be that cold. He couldn't mean it.

"Screw you Scott," she spat, tearing out of the room like a bat out of hell.

"Brooke! Wait!" Lucas shouted after her, instantly sorry and desperate to fix it with the brunette. But she didn't listen. She was done caring.

She slammed through the doors she'd just been shown through, brushing past the officer waiting on the other side with a plain manila envelope.

Two tears slipped down her cheek, the anger still burning too brightly to allow for the shock and pain and heartache that his careless comment had inflicted. She hadn't asked him to be a part of her life like that, he'd pushed and she'd finally opened up, and this was how he repaid her. She'd be damned before she let that happen again.

Rachel jumped at the sound of the door slamming and watched, curious, as Brooke flew threw the precinct.

"Brooke?" Rachel called out to her friend, hoping to find out just what had happened.

When no answer came, she went up to the desk to see if she could talk to Lucas, maybe he knew what happened.

"Excuse me, but could I please talk to Lucas Scott? I need to sign his paperwork for release, and I was hoping to speak with him for a moment."

The officer that had helped them initially looked over the documents in front of him, and instead suggested she just sign the paperwork for Lucas' release and talk to him on the way home, seeing as how everything else was taken care of.

Rachel absent mindedly signed what was put in front of her and accepted responsibility for her friend's possessions. She stood waiting for a few moments when she finally saw the tousled blonde head making his way into the main lobby.

"Lucas! Finally! What's going on?"

"Where's Brooke?"

"Huh? What? She left, do you have any idea what's going on?"

"I kinda said something I shouldn't have, and stuck my foot in it pretty deep," Lucas hesitantly admitted. He had shoved his hands down deep into his front pockets, and rocked back and forth on his heels. He felt horrible.

"You did what?!"

"I know Rach, I didn't mean to! I'm just tired and sore, and confused. She pushed and I snapped!"

"Oh Lucas, you're a class act, you know that? Come on, let's see if she took the car or caught a cab," Rachel said, tugging on his arm to drag him outside. She was ready to go home, and hopefully talk to Brooke. And beat Lucas' ass for being an insensitive prick.

The car was waiting out front just where Rachel had parked it, which meant, Rachel hoped, that Brooke had caught that cab. It wasn't like Brooke didn't know her way around New York, but still. She made a mental note to track her down in a couple hours if the woman didn't show soon.

-

Brooke stumbled along the dark street blindly, her tears clouding her vision. Her anger fueled her along, kept her from breaking down completely.

She really wanted, no, needed to know, just what went wrong back in that police station. She'd been so happy to see Lucas again when Rachel had dragged him through her doorway. She'd honestly thought they could be friends again, reconnect.

And now? Now, he was an ass and said shitty things while she fought hard to keep the tenuous balance her life had managed the last few months or so. She didn't ask for any of the things that had happened in the last week or so, hell, she hadn't asked for anything that her life had turned into except for maybe the fashion career.

Vaguely Brooke registered the hotel looming ahead of her and she stopped to flag down a cab. She had no where else to stay than Rachel's, and she knew it wasn't within walking distance. She needed to get off the streets, and she wanted a nice hot bath. Anything to soothe the scrambled thoughts and chaotic frame her mind was in.

Brooke turned her mind again to what had happened in the station. It felt amazingly wonderful to have finally told off Miles. Of that she was certain, and was completely satisfied with how the show down with her husband, soon to be ex, went. When Lucas had entered she was sure he had been sorry, and she's almost let him off the hook.

But for some reason she'd snapped when he replied differently than she'd been expecting. Before she could really register what was going on she was flying out the door, his fate be damned. The sound of his voice calling out to her barely registered, and even now she wasn't entirely certain she'd heard right. Chances were he'd been calling her back so he could rub it all in her face just a little bit more.

No, that wasn't fair. Her Broody wasn't like that. He probably felt as horrible as she did right now. She certainly hoped he did anyways. Worse even.

The sight of the yellow cab pulling up to the curb broke Brooke from her train of thought. Slipping into the back seat she gave the driver directions and leaned back against the glass. A lone tear slipped from her huge green eyes.

-

The car ride back to Lucas' was silent. Rachel was contemplating the several thousand ways Lucas could make it up to Brooke for whatever it was his stupid male mind had come up with, while Lucas fumbled to focus on even one tiny thing. His head was swimming with everything he'd absorbed in the last three days, and he was exhausted.

He'd thought for sure that he'd gotten past all his hang ups on the past. Being in Brooke's house, near her, within the same breathing space though had drastically changed his mind in that particular area. He loved her, he had to finally admit, and it scared the ever loving daylights out of him.

If he was brutally honest with himself he'd admit he never stopped loving her. The unfairness of it all nearly robbed him of his breath. She was married. _Married._ It wasn't like a boyfriend that he could beat up and chase away. She had committed to spending the rest of her life with this guy. It didn't matter, at least not in his head right then, that it wasn't happy. Or that she'd been trying to divorce the man for the last four years.

All that mattered was that she was married. Oh, that, and she had a kid.

A kid, for that matter, who probably knew him better than she did her own mother. Enter problem number two, the size of a giant. He needed to back up in order to truly appreciate just how huge this particular problem was.

Echoes of their fight the night before still bounced around in his head, things she'd said that had found a place inside his heart. He'd never meant to chase her away, but he was reeling. He was lost and didn't even have a hint of what the next step was supposed to be.

He was smart enough however to know that beating up her husband probably wasn't the next step he was supposed to have taken.

And then there was the whole thing at the police station. He had most certainly NOT meant to say the things he'd said. Or behave the way he had. He had intended on groveling, doing some judicious begging, and hoping beyond everything else that she wouldn't be so mad at him that he'd never see her again. He had too many things he had to make up for, namely starting with letting her walk out his bedroom door so many years ago.

Okay, so he was hurt. So he was angry that Brooke had a child with another man. So he was incensed that she'd be coming to their marriage having already had one.

Wait.

What?

Their marriage?

It fit thought. It made him happy. Yes. Their marriage. He was going to marry Brooke. He was going to help her raise her daughter. He was going to prove to her that the love he felt for Brooke was all encompassing. That, after all these years, she was still it for him.

Everything suddenly felt insanely better. Screw whatever they'd gone through in the last couple of days. Lucas knew what he wanted, and didn't plan on stopping until he got it. He would figure out what it would take to get it later.

He wanted Brooke Davis.

He wanted his Pretty Girl.


End file.
